Preview: NBL24 Round 2 v Cairns Taipans at Nissan Arena

Fresh off a terrific road win on Thursday night, the Brisbane Bullets are back home on Saturday looking to keep the perfect NBL24 record going in a Sunshine Stoush battle with the Cairns Taipans.

The Bullets have now started the season with consecutive wins for the first time since the 2019/20 season and now will be attempting to open up with three victories for the first time since the 2007/08 campaign.

On the back of beating the Adelaide 36ers at home to open NBL24 last Friday night 86-71, the Bullets put in a tremendous performance on Thursday to open Round 2 and defeat the New Zealand Breakers 89-84 at Auckland's Spark Arena.

Making that win all the more impressive for the Bullets was that it came with the absence of DJ Mitchell, Josh Bannan and Gabe Hadley, and that it came in hostile territory against a team that went so close to winning last season's championship.

It was a statement performance from the Bullets but there's little time to celebrate with a quick return home to Nissan Arena on Saturday to host a Cairns Taipans team also fresh off a Thursday night win at home to the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

For Hostplus Bullets Head Coach Justin Schueller, he knows the Snakes will be a significant test but he expects to be able to add Mitchell back into the rotation to strengthen the frontcourt.

"There's no easy games in this league and we want to take the good that we did in this one and learn from the stuff we can get better at, and then just keep growing as a group," Schueller said.

"We are playing against these great sides but it really is about us and taking these steps forward. That's constantly what we're talking about. We'll get our bodies right, get back to Brissie and prep, and give it another good hit out on Saturday."

Schueller has made it a point about his team for this season with the Bullets that he wants them to have a strong defensive mindset and that the depth in the roster built will become one of their great strengths.

Those two aspects have certainly stood out in the two wins so far, but by getting defensive stops, it's also allowed them to push the pace and up the tempo which is a great benefit when you have a captain like Nathan Sobey who has started the season superbly.

"We definitely want to have a defensive identity and holding a team like that to 84 points, we knew the three-point line was going to be important for them," Schueller said.

"Keeping them under 10 makes was a focus area for us and they've got guys who are coming downhill at you all day and it tested our coverages, and to be honest we weren’t always great with that.

"But getting stops creates our run and that's the beauty of how we've been able to play in these first two games. We've strung enough stops together to keep the pressure going the other way. There's a lot of work for us and growth to still go, but to be in the position we are now we're very happy."

Ticking off firsts has been important for this Bullets team to start the season but so was going into a tough venue like Spark Arena and beating the Breakers on Thursday, and Schueller knows how significant an achievement that was.

"We spoke about how not many teams will be able to get wins in this building and to have a playoff mindset already," Schueller said.

"They're the lessons and the growth we need as a group to put ourselves in those moments. Mody does a great job with his group and we knew they were going to be organised, and what they were going to be able to attack us in.

"We had to be good at countering and everyone that came in and stayed the course, and we were still able to push forward. To be able to do it in this building definitely feels good."

Bullets captain Nathan Sobey was brilliant on Thursday night finishing with 24 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals on 9/18 shooting from the floor and 5/5 from the foul line to be instrumental in the win.

While he's happy with the result and performance, he knows they quickly have to turn their focus to hosting Cairns on Saturday.

"We'll go back and look at what we did right in this game and things that we can use going into Saturday, but the page will be fully flipped and we'll be ready for that one on Saturday for sure," Sobey said.

"Obviously we'll definitely take the wins and keep building from it, but with the group we have, we're not going to be satisfied. We know how good we can be and we're just going to continue to build on that.

"You have to look back and reflect sometimes and to be 2-0 to start the season feels great for now, but we've got to continue to build from where we're at right now."

Sobey remained committed and loyal to the Bullets despite the challenges of the last couple of seasons. To now see the work everyone is doing to make that happen is something he's been most impressed about so far.

"I think we're just hungry. We have a group of guys who just want to get better and hang their hats on the defensive end and get out and play the right way, and play for each other," he said.

"That's the biggest difference, we've got guys who want to get better day in, day out. It's not just one day putting up a heap of shots up and then having a day off, guys are in the gym a lot every day and we have to pull them back sometimes. That's the greatest thing."

Sobey had a tremendous off-season where he was brilliant for the Ipswich Force and then inspirational in the Grand Final series leading them to a first ever NBL1 North championship with him named MVP.

What that did was prove to himself that his body was right back to its best again and that's given him the confidence coming into this NBL season to come out and perform as well as he has in these first two games.

"It gives me a lot of confidence to be able to grind it out during that season and then in the playoffs, there's three games in three days," Sobey said.

"So to be able to trust my body through that process and knowing the work you've put in to be able to perform and get the body feeling great for those games heading into the pre-season definitely felt good. It feels good to be back out there now with this great group at the moment."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Cairns Taipans

Tip off: 7:00pm (AEST), Saturday 7 October, 2023

Where: Nissan Arena

Tickets: Available Here

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo

Listen: SEN Q Radio