Norton discusses key learnings ahead of Perth clash

Brisbane Bullets point guard Mitch Norton is looking forward to another battle with his old Perth Wildcats team on Saturday.

Norton returned to Queensland this NBL season to join the Bullets for the first time after starting his career in his hometown with the Townsville Crocodiles, before stints at the Illawarra Hawks and Wildcats.

It was with Perth that he won championships in 2019 and 2020, but he has seamlessly settled into the Bullets already this season and has become a crucial part of the team both when he was backing up Shannon Scott as point guard, and now starting in his absence the last five games.

Norton has enjoyed his extra responsibilities without him and equally can't wait to welcome the star import back when he's right to go even if it's not until after the FIBA break now.

"It's been good and what this squad is built on is that if someone goes down then it's next man up so it has been good to be out there," Norton said.

"But I can't wait for Shannon to get back at the same time, he's a big piece of what we do and what we're building towards. Whenever that is, I can't wait to get him back out there. I just love him as a mate and teammate and can't wait to see him back."

The Bullets have now won three of the last five matches to sit on a 5-6 record on the season but the past two losses on the road to the Tasmania JackJumpers and Sydney Kings can be seen as great missed opportunities.

Brisbane had chances to win both games and were so close to currently being on a five-game winning streak, but it's the lessons that can be learned from the way each match finished against Sydney and Tasmania that Norton feels will hold the Bullets in good stead moving forward.

"Any time you have the defending champs on their home floor looking for answers, it means you are doing a good job," Norton said.

"So the learning from that was that obviously we didn’t do it for long enough and those last three minutes definitely came back to bite us. But we sat down and had a good, honest video session and came out and acted on that on the floor with a really good session.

"Obviously this group has found ourselves in different positions in fourth quarters, we've been down and had really good comebacks, but to have a lead and hold it, we've addressed some play calls and certain things along the way to help us finish out games the way we should.

"Defensively we know we're a gritty unit and we're going to be there on that end of the floor, so offensively closing out games is something that we've looked at."

There's plenty that the Bullets have learned in those last two games both in terms of how well they can play and that they can put themselves in winning positions against two of the top four teams from last season.

But at the same time there's the lessons to be learned from closing out games and Norton has full faith that in similar situations moving forward, they will be able to do a better job down the stretch.

"As long as you've got five guys on the floor on the same page then we're in a really good position and I think late games, big games and big moments we've got some stars on our team who can step up and make plays for us," he said.

"We trust them to do that and we trust everyone out on the floor, and in this group, so it could be anyone on any given night and that's what I love about this group. For us it's just nailing those moments and I think the longer the season goes we'll be in games coming down the stretch, and it's a good learning curve from us."

While Saturday night's game against the Wildcats might not have the same emotions attached to it as his first encounter at RAC Arena against his old team did, Norton is still looking forward to facing his former teammates who are on a four-game winning streak, and especially Bryce Cotton.

"Obviously they've started playing some really good basketball since that game so we do take a little bit away from it, but they've made changes and so have we. For us it's a new game, it's a fresh start and there'll be no complacency coming in," Norton said.

"Bryce is a superstar of the league for a reason and they made some changes to get some guys out on the court who can really help him, Jesse Wagstaff has played a lot of time with him and knows how to get Bryce going.

"For us it's about keying in on a couple of guys and they've got a very talented roster also with the potential No. 1 draft pick (Alex Sarr) and a lot of talent. For us it's all about the defensive end and if we can do that on our home court we'll be looking good."