But the Canberra Capitals have vowed to bounce back from three consecutive losses when they face the Adelaide Lightning at the Adelaide Arena on Sunday.

The Capitals have already flown to Melbourne and travelled to Bendigo, where they lost 93-75 to the Spirit on Thursday night. Now they wake up in Adelaide, before flying home for a clash with Townsville at the National Convention Centre on Tuesday.

Canberra were dealt a chaotic schedule when league officials moved games out of February's FIBA international window, leaving the Capitals with three games in this round.

Sunday might be their most important - the Capitals are sitting last with four wins from 16 games, while Adelaide have five wins from 18, giving Canberra a chance to leapfrog the Lightning.

"Fatigue has been a big thing. What we've noticed more recently is because of our youth, our experience and our injury profile over the past couple of months, for us to get a win, we're throwing everything," Capitals coach Kristen Veal said.

"It's like a grand final for us, every time we step on the court we're throwing everything at it to get that win. When we get the win, it's not only physically taxing, it's emotionally and mentally taxing as well. For us to recover from a win or a close game, it takes a bit longer at this stage in our careers.

"We must have had a light part of our schedule at some point, because we're a minimum of two games behind everyone else, so now we're catching up pretty quickly. It does take its toll, but the flipside is we do have a young group. Once we can get enough recovery in and enough nervous system reset, they're ready to go."

The Capitals are set to welcome Jade Melbourne back from a calf injury in a huge boost to their chances after the Opals guard missed the loss to Bendigo.

"A part of it was just freshening her up through the week and making sure that didn't get any worse, because that doesn't help us at the Caps and it doesn't help her opportunities going forward with the Opals," Veal said.

"She had that significant ankle injury last year, so really important that we didn't push it across the line of no return. She's been diligent this week, she's been able to get into rehab and gym and do all the right things with that leg to be able to not only play but perform the way we need her to.

"She'll be back for Adelaide, all guns blazing. Jayda showed what she could do, we'll find ways to blend the two a little bit more so we can get more impact out of them."