Preview: NBL24 Round 16 v Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena

Last time the Brisbane Bullets were at RAC Arena it was a memorable win to snap a losing slide, this time around they arrive in hot form and are looking to keep that rolling against the equally on-fire Perth Wildcats.

When the Bullets last played the Wildcats in Perth it was back in Round 5 of NBL24 and Brisbane arrived on a four-game losing streak, and without key experienced starting pair Shannon Scott and Aron Baynes.

What the Bullets delivered was a stunning and spirited performance to record the 84-79 victory. That was the start of a three-game winning streak and now Brisbane heads back out west having won their past four matches.

The Bullets come into Round 16 of the NBL season having shot up to fifth position on the table as a result of those wins against the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Sydney Kings, Tasmania JackJumpers and Illawarra Hawks.

The Bullets face a tough double-header now in Round 16 firstly in Perth against the Wildcats on Friday before the shortest of turnarounds to head up to Far North Queensland to face a Cairns Taipans team on Sunday afternoon who beat the Hawks in Wollongong on Thursday to go into the top six.

Not only do the Bullets go into Friday night's game at RAC Arena in strong form, but so do the Wildcats who are also on a four-game winning run to currently sit in second position in the NBL standings at 13-7.

That sets up a tantalising match up between the two hottest teams currently in the NBL with the Bullets looking to break into the top four with a 12th win of the season, and the 'Cats attempting to further consolidate their hold on second place.

Neither team will be at full strength either with the Bullets to be once again without Casey Prather who will miss his return to Perth where he won two of his three NBL championships.

Gabe Hadley and Next Star Rocco Zikarsky will also miss the game for Brisbane, but in more positive news, rookie power forward Josh Bannan will be back after missing Sunday's victory against the Hawks.

From a Wildcats point of view, their Next Star and likely No. 1 NBA Draft pick Alex Sarr remains sidelined with import forward Kristian Doolittle to also miss the game through concussion protocols.

For Hostplus Brisbane Bullets Head Coach Justin Schueller, he wants his team to stay in the moment and that means solely focusing on the job in Perth on Friday night.

"We've got a big road trip this weekend coming up with Perth and then straight to Cairns so we've been talking for a while now about staying in the moment," Schueller said.

"Our next moment is Perth, it's a place that we won the last time we were there and we know what that environment is like and what it takes to go do that now.

"This week is all about freshening the bodies up a little bit after a heavy week in that sense, and then getting our prep in and go. We just can't wait to get into this next weekend and now start trying to climb a little bit higher on this ladder."

There has been a lot for Schueller to like about the way the Bullets team has come together the longer the season has gone on, and that's while dealing with continued personnel challenges.

Even over this current four-game winning streak, Josh Bannan, Nathan Sobey, Casey Prather and Chris Smith have all been missing in at least one of those games, but this team was all built about having depth that could be relied upon.

That's a big reason why the Bullets have been able to put that next man up mentality into practice and Schueller can't help but be impressed with the focus of the whole group.

"The guys are doing the work and getting the reward in the game right now, and I feel like there are games there where we shot horribly and we'd be saying the same thing at that point if the shots had been going in," Schueller said.

"With that said, I just think we have a good rhythm in understanding what winning needs to be for us and that's possession by possession with where our advantages can be.

"We try to identify them going into any game so I think the group has done a great job to recognise that and then have consistency with it."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Perth Wildcats

Tip off: 8:30pm (AEST), Friday 19 January, 2024

Where: RAC Arena, Perth

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo