Preview: NBL24 Round 8 v Perth Wildcats at Nissan Arena

The Brisbane Bullets return to Nissan Arena to host the in-form Perth Wildcats on Saturday night in the last game before the FIBA break.

The Bullets might have lost their past two matches in NBL24, but the reality is they are close to being on a five-game winning streak right now having put themselves in winning positions on the road to both the Tasmania JackJumpers and Sydney Kings.

The impressive run of form for the Bullets began in the last meeting with the Wildcats which took place at RAC Arena back on October 27 where despite missing Shannon Scott and Aron Baynes, they came away with the 84-79 victory.

That was a confidence booster for everyone associated with the Bullets and they backed it up with victories at home to both the JackJumpers and South East Melbourne Phoenix with some impressive momentum building.

It's been a bit of a mixed bag the last two games away to Tasmania and Sydney, but the positives are that the Bullets were on top most of the way in both encounters and were in winning positions.

While not quite closing either of them does leave some room to grow and provides lessons to be learned from, there are great positives there especially considering the Bullets are yet to be at full strength for a single game yet in NBL24.

That could change on Saturday against the Wildcats at Nissan Arena with the chance of Scott returning from a hamstring injury, but the positive is if he's not back for this game, he's guaranteed to be right after the FIBA break against Cairns on December 1.

"There's still a strength test he has to tick off so that's kind of the last hurdle for him and if he ticks that off, he's in and if he doesn't, we'll use the FIBA window to make sure he's right after that," Hostplus Brisbane Bullets Head Coach Justin Schueller said.

"He has been a pro through his rehab and we've been integrated him back into practice now for a week and-a-half, and every day he looks that little bit better. It gives us great confidence and excitement that once we add him back into the fold, he's going to be ready to go and be able to have an impact."

There was no score from either team in a frantic couple of minutes where the JackJumpers held on to beat the Bullets by two points two weeks ago, and then last Sunday the Bullets were in control before the Kings scored the last 15 points of the contest.

The way those two games finished have given Schueller and his coaching staff plenty to work on about closing out matches this week, and he's confident they'll be better in similar situations moving forward.

"We've been talking about that this week and the last two games we feel like we gave them away," he said.

"That's a frustration when the season's as tight as it is and the thing that we've been trying to work on is that can we be consistent for 40 minutes, and keep red lining that whole way.

"We haven’t closed those last two out, but for us it's about if we can learn from those moments and be better moving forward. I've got full confidence that we'll take our lumps on that and be in a better position to make sure we take care of things."

You never want to lose games obviously especially in such a tight and competitive league like the NBL, but if it can help you learn lessons to take moving forward to be better in those similar situations, then sometimes it's the growing pains a new group has to go through.

That's certainly what Schueller is hoping now moving forward.

"We sit there going that there's three games that we feel like we didn’t control what we can, and that's what we preach every day to control what we can, have daily habits and continue to move forward," Schueller said.

"They're the lessons that we need as a club for where we're trying to get to that if we're going to be as good as we think we can be, we have to learn from those lessons and move forward."

The Bullets led by Sam McDaniel did an outstanding job last time against Perth limiting the influence of three-time MVP Bryce Cotton, but he's been on a tear now averaging 28.8 points in the four games for the Wildcats since which they've all won.

Schueller will be hoping they can do another solid job on him with McDaniel to be given first crack, but he knows it's a significant challenge given Cotton's history of game winners at Nissan Arena.

"Year in, year out Bryce to me is always going to be the hardest cover that you've got in the game," Schueller said.

"We're going to approach it the same way we did last time and he definitely has had some good games here, and they are coming off a game on Thursday. We also know that they've got Sam McDaniel who will start on him and we believe what he can do as a defender.

"I think it's going to be a great match up on the night and if we can do a job on Bryce we know that goes a long way to getting the result."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Perth Wildcats

Tip off: 7:00pm (AEST), Saturday 18 November, 2023

Where: Nissan Arena

Tickets: Available Here

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo

Listen: SEN Q Radio