Bullets take a ‘step in the right direction’ despite loss to Melbourne

The Brisbane Bullets may have gone down fighting against playoff contenders Melbourne United 101-91 on Saturday, but the team took some significant strides “in the right direction.” 

Following a disappointing loss to the Sydney Kings earlier this week, the Bullets had a point to prove back on their home floor this weekend. Playing in front of yet another packed house at Nissan Arena, the vibrant home crowd brought the noise as the Bullets looked to repay the faith.

But after trailing by 17-points at the half-time break, some basketball fans may have considered the game as good as over – but the Bullets showed their resilience.

Spurred on by the River City faithful, Brisbane unleashed a barrage of three-pointers in the third quarter, which sent the home crowd into a frenzy. The Bullets didn’t get a single shot from beyond the arc to drop during the first-half, but it was a different story as the home side looked to claw their way back into the contest.

Star forward DJ Mitchell kicked off the onslaught with a jump shot about a minute into the third period, before adding another three-pointer shortly after.

Aron Baynes, Nathan Sobey and Tyler Johnson all got in on the fun as well, as Bullets fans dared to dream of an incredible comeback.

Brisbane showed plenty of character and potential throughout an impressive 11-0 run during the quarter, but the visitors would ultimately come out on top. 

After cutting down Melbourne’s lead to as little as two points, Chris Goulding began to heat up.

The three-time NBL champion added eight points during a 90 second run for Melbourne, including two three-pointers, as the visitors took a 76-65 lead into the final break.

The Bullets’ never say die attitude was clear for all to see during the final quarter as well, but the clock wasn’t on their side.

Melbourne did enough to hang on for the win, and keep their playoff hopes alive, while the Bullets switch their focus to their next match against South East Melbourne on Monday.

Aron Baynes delivered his best performance in the NBL for the Bullets with 21 points and 11 rebounds, with Nathan Sobey adding 18 points, six assists and four boards.

DJ Mitchell contributed 15 points and Tyler Johnson 13 to go with six rebounds.

For Melbourne, Rayjon Tucker continued his impressive run of form with another 30 points. Xavier Rathan-Mayes added 20 points, five rebounds and five assists with Chris Goulding scoring 21 points.

Veteran guard Nathan Sobey said that while the team is “disappointed” with the result, the Bullets can continue to build on what was clearly an improved performance.

“Obviously disappointed, we want to win, that’s simple. But at the same time, you’ve got to look at what happened the other night and the guys coming back and responding in the right way,” Sobey told reporters after the match.

“The way that we got after it on the defensive end was just positive signs for taking a step forward in the right direction.

“It’s not fun losing, we all want to win, that’s why we play the game, but I think it was a step in the right direction for us.

“You sort of want to throw that in the bin and move on as quick as you can, but we had to face the reality of it and see what we could’ve been better at.

“As competitors and people that want to win, I think we just wanted to play again. That last result, you lose by one or you lose by 50, it’s still a loss.

“We want to win and it was a step in the right direction, we’ve just got to keep building from it.”

The Bullets were slow out of the gate on Saturday, as Melbourne raced out to a commanding 10-point lead five minutes into the contest.

But Brisbane more than held their own throughout the rest of the match, including a second-half blitz which so nearly delivered a stunning result.

Speaking after the match, Hostplus Head Coach Greg Vanderjagt discussed Brisbane’s slow start in the first quarter, and how “the guys responded positively” throughout the rest of the game.

“Obviously an improved performance from Wednesday night,” Vanderjagt said.

“We played really good basketball for close to 30 minutes of that game, the first quarter obviously hurts us down 34-20 at that first break.

“I think the guys responded positively to what we talked about in huddles and timeouts and half-time… our intent to defend, to keep people in front of us, our aggressiveness with the pick and roll was really positive.

“Some guys really stood up and put their hands up tonight.

“Everyone who played contributed, so certainly a positive response after a really long day for us yesterday in the film room and on the practice floor.

“The challenge now is to put four quarters together on Monday night and then do it consistently for the remaining six games that we have this season.”

Centre Aron Baynes led the way for the Bullets tonight, as he had probably his best match in the coveted royal blue singlet.

Baynes dropped an NBL career-high 21 points, and was other immense on both sides of the ball as he added 11 boards to his stat line.

“He’s a competitor, he wants to be out there, he wants to be with the group,” Vanderjagt said about Baynes.

“We’ve made it a bit of a focus over the last little period to really give the big fella some touches and I think he did a great job tonight of sealing and screening.

“It’s all the work that he does to get other people open and that’s when Baynes is at his best. When he makes other people better… the intention that his gravity commands because of the large human being he is, he was really, really effective tonight."

HUNGRY JACK’S NBL ROUND 15

BRISBANE BULLETS 91 (Baynes 21, Sobey 18, Mitchell 15)

MELBOURNE UNITED 101 (Tucker 30, Goulding 21, Rathan-Mayes 20)

BOX SCORE