Bullets defence, physicality key to road win

The Brisbane Bullets continued their strong road form winning in Tasmania with Casey Prather and Tyrell Harrison leading the way, but most encouraging was the 40-minute effort helped by the inclusions of Mitch Norton and Jacob Holt.

The Bullets have now won four of seven games on the road this season backing up two victories in New Zealand and one in Perth by beating the JackJumpers 83-81 at MyState Bank Arena on Saturday.

What most impressed coach Stu Lash in the performance was that the Bullets stuck to their guns with their physicality and defence for all 40 minutes on the way to restricting Tasmania to just the 81 points on 39 per cent field goal shooting and only sending them to the foul line 11 times.

There was then a lot to like offensively from what Brisbane did to secure the win, but ultimately what Lash was most pleased with was their intensity for the entire game helped by having seven players able to be out there for 20-plus minutes.

"Just coming to Tasmania and getting a win, that's a hard thing to do and I'm really proud of the effort," Lash said.

"We spent all week talking about our defence and how if we want to start to beat some of the top teams in the league, home or away, that the defence has to be at a level that it hadn’t been.

"We hold them to 81 points with 39 per cent from the field and we had 48 points in the paint, that's a level of physicality we've been looking for. I'm just really, really happy with the effort and the preparation going into the week."

The two players who delivered dominant performance in the win for Brisbane were Casey Prather and Tyrell Harrison who combined for 49 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocked shots on 21/36 field goal shooting.

Prather delivered 28 points and eight rebounds with Harrison adding 21 points, nine boards, three assists and two blocks on 10/14 shooting with Lash delighted with what his two studs provided.

"Really, it's Casey and Ty and they had 49 and 17 between the two of them tonight, that's big boy ball right there," Lash said.

"We had 48 points in the paint so we talked about having a defensive mindset and playing with a level of physicality coming into this game, that was really top of the line focuses for us.

"So to see that execution from those two guys especially and they were very efficient too, they got on the boards too where Tassie traditionally does a terrific job. It was certainly a focus for us and those guys came to play."

 Another great positive from the win for the Bullets was the successful returns of both Mitch Norton and Jacob Holt.

Holt made his NBL debut and after a shaky start helping former Bullet Josh Bannan to a three-point play, he made an impressive contribution in his 11 minutes with two points, four rebounds, a steal and a block.

While captain Norton was inspirational and it wasn’t all evident on the box score where he had four points, five rebounds and two assists, but he just makes coach Lash feel so much more at ease by being out there.

"I thought Jacob came in and gave us some really quality minutes and he had four rebounds, two offensive ones, and one that was a really big one at the end of the first half to give us an extra possession there," Lash said.

"He (Norton) knows I sleep better when he's on the floor and around the team, and I haven’t been sleeping very well.

"He has two dive on the floor loose balls and a charge so those are winning basketball plays that we've been missing. This guy is a champion, he's a captain and he's a man's man, and we're very happy that he's back."

The Bullets are slowly getting back to full strength now too with only Sam McDaniel and Tohi Smith-Milner sidelined from the win on Saturday against Tasmania.

Lash couldn’t have been happier with the way his team's defence operated against the JackJumpers, but it can still get a lot better when a genuine Damian Martin Trophy contender in McDaniel returns from his ankle injury in coming weeks.

"He (McDaniel) still has a little time to go on that, but he's such an important piece for us both on and off the floor," Lash said.

"He's been part of the organisation since Mitch and I have been here and he's just a total pro, and gives us that one other point of attack defender that we really need so we're not just putting so much on one guy, and we can throw different bodies out there.

"I thought Tristan (Devers) came in tonight and gave us really solid impactful minutes on the defensive end, and that just goes back to having the two extra bodies of Norto and Holt there.

"Now some guys that were playing 25-28 minutes now might end up playing 12-15 and those minutes can be all gas with no self-preservation or being worried about just trying to get through the game because we can sub a little bit more.

"Sam's working really hard and we'll welcome him back with open arms when he's ready."