‘Heat of the moment’: McDonald addresses tense exchange

Friday was another tough night at the office for the Brisbane Bullets, as they slumped to their 12th straight defeat at the hands of the Perth Wildcats.

A big part of that was the slow start by the visitors at RAC Arena, seeing them fall behind by double-digits early and never recovering in the 19-point defeat.

“It wasn't the start we wanted,” Bullets interim head coach Darryl McDonald said in Friday’s post-game press conference.

“We thought we'd throw something different at them, but we gave up offensive boards and let them take wide-open shots, and that's when they got out [to their big lead.

“Once we got back to what we had to do, we were able to get back in the game, but giving up 15 offensive boards is tough to overcome.

“Our guys compete and play hard, but when you come into a game, you have to be able to flick a switch to be fully switched on, and when we did that, we got back into the game and just couldn't sustain.”

During the poor start, tempers boiled over for the Bullets, leading to an altercation between McDonald and American import Terry Taylor.

“There was nothing in that between Terry and me,” McDonald said, defending his player.

“It was just in the heat of the moment in the game, and it was nothing more than that after that turnover he had when he was trying to throw to Holty (Jacob Holt).”

The 10th-placed Bullets now shift their attention to their final match of the season, where they host league-leaders Sydney in Round 22.

“Our last game is at home, so the least we can do is come out and play hard and compete for our fans,” McDonald said.

“That's what we’ll focus on for that game against Sydney.”

That Round 22 fixture on Friday, February 20, tips off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.