Preview: NBL25 R13 Away v Adelaide 36ers

The Brisbane Bullets gave the home fans plenty of pre-Christmas cheer on Friday night and now will look to keep the momentum going on Tuesday afternoon on the road to the Adelaide 36ers.

The Bullets will be taking part in a Christmas Eve fixture at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre against the 36ers for the second straight NBL season, and will be looking to keep their impressive recent form going.

Going back to Friday night and the Bullets scored the 107-104 victory at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre against the Cairns Taipans to now improve to an 8-8 record on the season.

By getting back to a .500 record for the first time all season, the Bullets now sit in sixth position on the NBL standings and can even move up to fifth heading into Christmas with the victory on Tuesday afternoon.

The Bullets take on a 36ers team fresh off their own 20-point loss on Saturday night in Melbourne against the South East Melbourne Phoenix, but with the knowledge they are a totally different team at home.

So far this season, the Sixers have won six of their eight home matches where they average 92.5 points and only concede 86.6 per game. That's opposed to their seven road games where they are scoring 88.9 points still but giving up 105.3.

What that means is that trying to score on the 36ers in Adelaide is a difficult proposition considering they are giving almost 20 points less than they do on the road, but scoring is something that the Bullets have become mighty proficient at.

Brisbane put up another 107 points on Friday night in the home win against the Taipans with them having now averaged 105.6 points a game over the past five and four of those five have seen them put up triple-figures.

The last five times the Bullets have scored 100-plus points has led to a victory and on Friday night Casey Prather (35 points) and Keandre Cook (30) continued their outstanding shooting and scoring form.

While James Batemon has been ruled out to play on Tuesday in Adelaide after hurting his hamstring against Cairns, Josh Bannan will be playing his second game back after showing encouraging signs on Friday with five points and six rebounds.

Adelaide will be missing experienced guards DJ Vasiljevic and Sunday Dech, but are always dangerous especially in front of their sold out home crowd with superstar pair Montrezl Harrell and Kendric Davis energising them.

The 36ers have also won their past two home games on Christmas Eve, including last year against the Bullets, but Brisbane coach Justin Schueller is looking forward to the chance of turning that around.

"It's a tough environment to play in but we're looking forward to it. The Christmas Eve game has been a bit of a challenge for the road teams, but we always talk about firsts and we want to be the first ones to go in there and have a good step forward in the way that we play. We have games coming thick and fast, and we think that's good for us and we're looking forward to it.

Cook continues to enjoy the way the Bullets have been growing this season having now won four of the last five, and five of the last seven, games and he sees no reason it can't continue in Adelaide on Christmas Eve.

"We've been building the team chemistry and been working on a lot of things, and I think we've found our level and have been competing at a high level," Cook said.

"Coach has been preaching things that we've been wanting to working on and I think we're starting to figure it out to get on that road of getting a lot of wins to shoot to the top.

"We just need to keep playing with the same intensity that we've been playing with on the road, and tidying up a few things on the offensive end and the defensive end.

"We just have to stay together and go back to the drawing board, and just listen to coach and compete the way we're competing to stay at this level that we've been playing at."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Adelaide 36ers

Tip off: 4:30pm (AEST), Tuesday 24 December, 2024

Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo