Preview: NBL24 Round 16 v Cairns Taipans at Cairns Convention Centre

The Brisbane Bullets arrive in Cairns determined to hit back from Friday night's loss in Perth to consolidate their top six NBL position and the chance to win the season series against the Taipans.

It will be the fourth Sunshine Stoush match up of the season between the two Queensland rivals when the Bullets head to the Cairns Convention Centre to take on the Taipans.

So far this season and the Snakes have won two of the three meetings starting back on October 7 with the three-point victory. Brisbane hit back to win in Cairns by five points on December and then back at Nissan Arena and the Taipans won by a point on December 17.

It's been the away teams winning the last two meetings between the two so the Bullets will be looking to keep that trend going on Sunday afternoon with the winner to end the round inside the NBL's top six with four rounds of the regular season remaining.

Both teams have already played earlier in Round 16 as well leading into the Sunday contest with Cairns able to beat the Illawarra Hawks 93-92 in Wollongong back on Thursday night thanks to a Lat Mayen three-pointer on the buzzer.

The Bullets, meanwhile, lost in Perth to the Wildcats by 32 points on Friday night before jumping on a plane on Saturday morning to come back to Brisbane, and then heading up to Cairns to prepare for the Sunday afternoon clash.

Both Brisbane and Cairns come into the game with 11-12 records on the season so the winner will remain in the top six by the end of the round while also winning the season series. While the Taipans have won two of the three games, the Bullets hold a one-point edge so the winner on Sunday will take the series.

The bonus for the Bullets will be the return of three-time NBL champion Casey Prather and 17-year-old Next Star Rocco Zikarsky which will provide a boost to a team already motivated to bounce back from what happened in Perth on Friday.

Hostplus Brisbane Bullets Head Coach Justin Schueller knows that his team didn’t handle things how they hoped against the Wildcats, but he hopes they can learn quickly.

"In a playoff type game like this, little moments turn into big problems if you don't take care of it the right way and that's what it felt like in real time," Schueller said.

"There's a lot of lessons for us, a lot of things, though, that we can control which is the positive going into Sunday. We know it wasn’t us and our style of game so that's what we'll focus on moving forward."

There's nothing you can do about a tough road trip like playing in Perth on Friday and Cairns on Sunday except not worry about it, don't waste time or energy complaining, and be ready for the challenge.

That's exactly what Schueller expects from the Bullets in Cairns now on Sunday.

"In reality once we didn’t have another run at it down the stretch we did try to save some bodies, but this club is never going to complain about officials, road trips, illness. That's not who we are," Schueller said.

"We're embracing the challenge that this weekend is and we didn’t take care of this game, so now we have the opportunity to go and change this weekend from a negative to a positive. That's at front of mind and that's the way we'll move forward."

Two-time NBL champion and 337-game veteran point guard Mitch Norton, like his coach, is looking forward to a short turnaround to Sunday to see what the Bullets can learn from Friday, and put into action.

"It's a lesson to learn and it is only one loss in the column no matter how many points we gave up," Norton said.

"That's not who we are so we're going to go back and evaluate, we've got a quick turnaround which is good for us and we don't have to stew on this one for too long but we do have to learn from it."

Doing all the right things and looking after your body is what's key to physically being ready to go on Sunday in Cairns with the day of flying on Saturday in between games, but all Norton is worried about is that's needed to beat the Snakes.

"Sleep is probably the most important thing for recovery and looking after our bodies is No. 1 right now," Norton said.

"Hopefully we pick up some in Brissie on the way up as well but it's just part of the schedule, there's nothing we can do about it.

"We're not going to sit here and complain, we're basketball players and are getting to paid to play basketball which is the best job in the world if you ask me. We're looking forward to the challenge on Sunday."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Cairns Taipans

Tip off: 3:00pm (AEST), Sunday 21 January, 2024

Where: Cairns Convention Centre

Watch: 10Peach, ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo