Defence the focus for faster pace Bullets

Through necessity the Brisbane Bullets have found a fast-pace, high-scoring shooting dominant style of play that is working but what coach Justin Schueller wants them to keep working on is getting better defensively the rest of NBL25.

The Bullets didn’t necessarily plan on playing at that fast pace and with a focus on having a point guard like Mitch Norton creating good looks for Casey Prather, James Batemon and Keandre Cook, and then having the option of going inside to Tyrell Harrison too.

A lot of that was simply because coming into the season and Josh Bannan and Sam McDaniel were locked in just about to starting roles providing a different look for the group at both ends of the floor with the likelihood at least one of Prather, Batemon or Cook would come off the bench, if not two.

The first time that Brisbane really wanted to back in playing a faster game style with Norton pushing the ball and creating for his lethal import trio and finding Harrison in advantageous positions was back in Round 8 against Melbourne United.

While that ended up in a loss, the Bullets did put up 103 points that night with Schueller seeing something to build upon and then it was following the FIBA break where Bannan injured ankle when he really decided to go fully into it.

The result was not only some exciting basketball from the Bullets, but winning basketball too with wins against Adelaide, Melbourne and South East Melbourne where they averaged 113.3 points in those victories.

For more than three quarters it was working as well in Sydney against the Kings on Sunday as well before Schueller admittedly noted his team looked tired against a fresh opponent on their home floor.

While the Bullets can still chop and change the way they want to play and it might change again a little once Bannan returns from his ankle injury, he's liked the way they have embraced the higher tempo style.

"Honestly it was out of a bit of necessity when we put Casey to the four when Bannan got injured," Schueller said.

"That allowed us to play a little bit freer with more shooting on the floor as well so we had to find out how we could create a new advantage with Banno out.

"That's when we found a couple of other actions that allowed to JB and Dre to be a threat at the same time which is a tough cover. In the half court, there was key parts but then being able to have that versatility defensively and to get some more run out was a positive.

"Norto has been a real key piece to that in pushing pace and finding advantages, but in all honesty it's about who's in front of us and where our advantages can be on the night. We've just played a few teams that we felt we could see some positive play in those areas against."

The Bullets have now played 15 of their 29 matches this NBL season with a 7-8 record but having won four of the past six matches.

The only loss in that stretch before in Sydney on Sunday was when the team was decimated in Perth with the absence of Harrison, Bannan, Jarred Bairstow, Deng Adel and Tohi Smith-Milner.

With Bannan likely to return now on Friday night against Cairns at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and Adel nearing a comeback from hand surgery, and Schueller likes how the Bullets are placed but wants their defensive to continue to improve.

"This is the halfway mark of our season now and we hit our quarter target so we know we go into this next of the season," Schueller said.

"For us it's about understanding the lessons and the growth we've had as a collective, and now what's our level up.

"To me that's at the defensive end and we know we can put enough points on the board against anyone in this league.

"It's more what are we doing at that end of the floor and that's where our greatest growth will come, and what we'll keep working on every single day as we move forward on this season."