Bullets learn valuable lesson in round one loss to Wildcats

The Brisbane Bullets fell 87-73 to the Wildcats to Perth on Sunday. 

Brisbane made a hot start to lead 15-4 early. Tanner Krebs hit two quick triples from to open up the scoring. Tyler Johnson then hit another for Brisbane and they led 9-2 early. Another bucket to Johnson and dunk from DJ Mitchell soon made it 15-4.

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But triple MVP, Bryce Cotton set the tone for the home side with 17 points in the first half, giving Perth a thirteen point lead at half time.

Baynes came out ready to spark the Bullets to open the second half and scored seven of his team's first nine points to close the gap to eight, but every time Brisbane would threaten to get back into the contest, the Wildcats had all the answers.

In a packed RAC Arena, Perth were able to capitalise on Brisbane’s turnovers, to defeat the visitors by 14 points.

All eyes were on the NBL debut of Baynes for the Bullets and he battled hard for 11 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes, but it was Walker who top-scored fresh off his NBL1 West MVP season with 16 points, hitting 4/9 from downtown.

Tyler Johnson had 13 points, four rebounds and four assists, Froling put up 11 points and five rebounds, and Krebs added nine points and six boards. DJ Mitchell also had some shining moments in his NBL debut with 8 points, five rebounds and a block.

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Following the game, Hostplus Head Coach James Duncan and Aron Baynes spoke to the media.

“We had 24 turnovers and they scored 31 points. So that tells the story right there,” James Duncan said following the game.

“It’s something we’re going to continue to build and work on and understand where we want to attack.” 

“The effort was there and I can’t fault their effort. There’s a lot of good things we can take from the game. But once we start turning the ball over and give a very good team easy opportunities to score the ball, they become comfortable and the confidence starts flowing… we need to be better there.”

Aron enjoyed being out on the floor and is excited for the challenge to get better with his team each game.

“Just trying to make the most of it and trying to impact it [the game] in a positive way,” Baynes said.

“The thing about it is you look at our effort and it’s all there, we just gotta direct it in the right way. One or two different things each person can do better and we’ll be ticking.”

“I’m enjoying the challenge of coming in and doing this daily and working towards getting better and pushing each of these guys in the locker room to be better.”

“What’s exciting for me is we’ve got a lot to build on from this game.”

The Bullets remain on the road for their next two games, facing the Kings in Sydney next Friday night, following by the JackJumpers in Tasmania on Sunday.

The Bullets return to Nissan Arena for their first home game of NBL23 against the defending Champion Sydney Kings on Sunday 16 October. Get your tickets HERE.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 1

PERTH WILDCATS 87 (Cotton 23, Wagstaff 14, Thomas 12)
BRISBANE BULLETS 73 (Walker 16, Johnson 13, Froling 11, Baynes 11) 

BOX SCORE