Last drinks have almost been called for the Wollongong Hawks.
The Hawks (9-18) host New Zealand on Friday before wrapping up their 2008-09 campaign the following weekend with home and away clashes with Adelaide and Gold Coast.
While the season isn't quite over, the players and coaching staff are probably already looking back with regret, wondering why they aren't pushing for an NBL finals berth.
Barring a miracle financial windfall, the league's lone foundation club will soon close its doors for the last time, leaving 10 players and three coaches out of a job.
But despite the dark clouds hanging over their respective futures, the Hawks have vowed to stay focused on finishing the season on a positive note.
"It's still important for the community and us that we finish as high as we can on the ladder, so we're definitely not planning to pack up shop," Wollongong coach Eric Cooks said.
"We're coming in to our next game to get a 'w', and New Zealand would be a good scalp to get."
The Hawks have been in the league since the original 1979 season.
But the club has virtually no hope of meeting the financial requirements of the new NBL for the 2009-10 season which starts in October.
Forward Anthony Petrie has been a revelation in his first season with the Hawks and was looking forward to building a career with Wollongong.
A leading candidate for NBL Most Improved Player honours, the 25-year-old father-of-two is resigned to pursuing his basketball career elsewhere or putting his teaching degree to use.
"I try not to get caught up in that. It was the same situation for me last year, being on a one-year deal, but the important thing is sticking together and working as a team," Petrie said.
"Hopefully everything works out all right for the boys, but you can't control things that are out of your control, so we've just gotta put our heads down and keep working.
"For me personally, it can get you down, but this community and our fans are unbelievable and we want to finish as best we can. We've got two more games at home and it's important we turn up and play hard for our fans and give a sustained effort like we did in the second half (in Friday's 113-104 home loss to Melbourne)."
The Hawks were their own worst enemy on Friday night, hitting 55 per cent of their shots but turning over possession 19 times.
"We had some soft turnovers early," Cooks said.
"Our defence wasn't switched on at the start and we gave up some easy ones. Our soft turnovers gave them a lot of uncontested lay-ups and that made it hard for us.
"It's disappointing that we shot 55 per cent and they couldn't put us away, but we weren't on our game at the beginning."
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