And they really need it.
They were humbled 98-72 by the Auckland Tuatara in Dunedin on Saturday night.
The Nuggets struggled with the visitors’ size.
The Tuatara bullied their way to the hoop and there was nothing the home side could do about it.
They tried to clog up the paint but just got hurt on the outside.
By halftime, they trailed 51-33 and were in a hole too deep to climb out of.
Thomas Vodanovich top-scored for the Tuatara with 20, and Joshua Dilling added 15.
Buay Tuach (13 points) and Isaac Miller-Jose (12 points, nine rebounds) led the scoring for the Nuggets on a disappointing night.
The Nuggets are expected to add another forward to their roster in the next week or so.
They are on a three-game slide, so help cannot come quickly enough.
Rob Loe dropped in a three-pointer seconds into the match.
The seasoned forward had too much time and space to miss that one.
Dilling drilled another from deep as the Tuatara stormed to a 12-2 lead.
Zach Riley ghosted through the defence to add another.
Tuach hit a mid-ranger jumper and a three to fire up the 1357-strong home crowd.
But Auckland had opted to go to the bench early and the Nuggets made inroads with the starters taking a breather.
Nuggets point guard Alain Louis landed a three just before the break to cut the gap to one point.
All that hard work was undone at the start of the second. Auckland went back to their starting five and the lead quickly blew out to 10.
The sight of Chris Johnson slamming in a behind-the-head dunk would have put the chills through Nuggets fans.
The Nuggets were outmatched.
Johnson (14 points) tipped in on the buzzer to give the Tuatara a decisive 18-point lead at halftime.
He got on the end of back-to-back-to-back alley-oops early in the third period. All were real rim benders.
The Nuggets lifted the pace in the hope of tiring the visitors, who were backing up from a 111-94 loss to the Southland Sharks in Invercargill on Thursday.
They only fell further behind and went into the last period down 23 points.
If you are watching on television, you turn it off at that point.
Some people like watching the cat play with the mouse.
It was grim.
The Tuatara won the Rapid League game 44-35.
NBL
The scores
Auckland Tuatara 98
(Thomas Vodanovich 20, Joshua Dilling 15)
Otago Nuggets 72
(Buay Tuach 13, Isaac Miller-Jose 12)
Quarter scores: 18-17, 51-33, 76-53, 98-72.
