Lash lauds character but frustrated by disparity

Stu Lash couldn’t have been prouder of the character shown by the Brisbane Bullets to almost cause a stunning upset with a 39-point fourth quarter but it was other areas out of their control that left him fuming.

Considering the Bullets lost on the Gold Coast by 29 points to the New Zealand Breakers on Wednesday and lost Casey Prather to a knee injury, and then parted ways with Jaylen Adams before heading to Melbourne, things were stacked against them.

Then Brisbane founded themselves 21 points down in the third quarter on Saturday against United while still trailing by 18 early in the fourth, but the resilience of the group was impossible not to admire.

It was led by their two most experienced players, Mitch Norton and Lamar Patterson, who combined for 27 of their 39 fourth quarter points as they got back as close as three before just falling short and losing by six.

Even with losing Prather for the rest of the season and then releasing Adams after Wednesday's loss on the Gold Coast, Lash always had faith in his group they would take the challenge right up to Melbourne on Saturday.

That's exactly what they did and Taine Murray was tremendous guarding Chris Goulding, Harrison battled hard, Dakota Mathias hit three triples, and Alex Ducas, Tristan Devers, Jacob Holt and Jack Purchase contributed.

"It's just a credit to the leadership in our club from Norto to Ty, Lamar stepping in and we have some young guys that don't act young on a day-to-day basis with the way they come in and do their work," Lash said.

"We flicked the switch pretty quick after that New Zealand game where there were a few things we identified and moved on quickly from, and my message to them was if they don't have a belief that we can come in here and win, then don't show up on Friday.

"They came in and had a really good early practice, we flew down here and had a great team meal last night getting around each other, and went to work this morning on our preparation and that's what we've done all year."

There was a lot to like in the character the Bullets showed against the odds, and while Lash was proud, he was also frustrated that the major reason they came up short was United attempting 36 free throws to his team's 11 for the game.

"There's no victory in defeat and we'll take the effort, but the game was there for us and I know how hard the guys are working, and the togetherness and brotherhood they have so I'm happy they put themselves in a position to get a win against a quality basketball team," Lash said.

"But I'm having a hard time on the foul count and our guys are not getting the same level of respect as others in this league do, 36 to 11.

"They hold, they grab, Tyrell (Harrison) gets no calls and the challenge on (Tyson) Walker is clearly a foul, and Mitch Norton has played in this league 15 years and gets thrown into the baseline, it is what it is.

"There has to be some explanations and they welcome our feedback, and there's open lines of communication to send clips and get an understanding of what is and what isn’t a foul so we'll go through that process."

In the bigger picture, while the disparity was significant in the game against Melbourne with Brisbane called for 27 fouls to United's 17, Lash just feels his team has to learn to adjust if things are going to be called that way.

"The league is very physical, there's no doubt, and we do have some guys who are in their first year in the league or just coming into it, and there's always an adjustment to that level of play," Lash said.

"It's far more physical than the NBA and the G League, no doubt, and you can't hold and grab like this off the ball there so I think it's just them making an adjustment to it, and I'm not picking on United per se.

"It's just that foul disparity really stood out to me tonight but we just have to make an adjustment with how we play, and play through it.

"I'm not trying to complain, I'm just pointing out a pretty real number here but we'll continue to get better and figure that out, and I thought we played through it really well.

"We didn’t let it affect us and scored 39 points in the fourth quarter after giving up 41 the other day but our offence hasn’t really been the problem for us this year, and it's just about being more consistent with our good because we need to find more of a balance on that."

In the bigger picture, what Lash was proud of about the performance in Melbourne was the fighting qualities the group showed and he feels it was a representation of the people of Brisbane they are playing for.

"This effort shows the character of the men in that locker room and that they are hard working, highly competitive guys who go about things the right way and I think that's what the people of Brisbane are," Lash said.

"I've only lived there for a couple of months now but I kinda get that sense that it's a group of fans that maybe people don't believe in them all the time like the city, I get that sense, and there's a real fight and desire of who we're trying to be.

"If you can't get around this type of effort then I think that really is who we are and we've been preaching that since the day I've come in, our attitude and our effort.

"Those are the things that we can control every single day and I say this time and time again, if you wake up with a great attitude and you put forth great effort, you're going to win more games than you lose. That's the foundation of who we are."

While the Bullets do have the vision of replacing both Adams and Prather for the rest of the season, that won't be done before the FIBA break so for now Lash's sole focus is on playing the South East Melbourne Phoenix this Thursday at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

"We're active on that but it's game by game right now and we have one more game til the FIBA break and I don't expect anything to be different by then," Lash said.

"So today is Saturday and we don't play til Thursday, and then we have almost two weeks off so there's some time there for us to focus on South East with who we have, and management and ownership is working diligently on what everything looks like.

"It's our job just to be ready to go and get a win versus South East."