The clash was delayed by 45 minutes as officials tried unsuccessfully to fix the shot clock, but Maloney said it was no excuse for complacency against an undermanned Bruins outfit.

The Heat are now eighth on the ladder with a 1-4 record after fading in the final term after leading 69-66 at three quarter time, with Maloney and former Border Bandits forward Sawyer Dearborn leading the way with 20 points apiece. 

Now two wins outside the top four, Maloney knows the Heat must turn their fortunes around soon to keep their playoff hopes alive, beginning with Saturday night's road trip to Shoalhaven.

"I've been playing for nine years and this is probably the worst start we've had since I've been here," Maloney said. 

"With the league the way it is we have to start winning, otherwise our season's over.

"I think we were 1-3 on year and ended up making the finals, I reiterated to the boys it's not too late and to keep working hard and not get negative.

"We just got complacent. We saw Bankstown only had six players and we thought we'd run over the top of them. We really didn't put the foot down and put them to bed.

"The shot clock wasn't working and ended up playing the game without it. I think there was definitely a few times where we held it for at least 30 seconds before putting a shot up.

"It should have worked in our favour to be honest, use that to run them down a bit more but we didn't do that." 

Maloney said sloppiness with the ball and a lack of rebounding commitment were the major issues to solve to reverse their slow start. 

"We just need to stop making silly mistakes and take care of the ball. There's a trend so far where we've been making turnovers and other teams have put easy baskets on us," he said.

"We're also giving up too many offensive rebounds. We have to start working better as a team, playing team basketball."

Women's outfit the Wagga Blaze will look to build on a 1-1 start to the season at Shoalhaven on Saturday. 

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