Preview: NBL25 R15 Home v Sydney Kings

The Brisbane Bullets have had a bit of time after a hectic schedule to now be ready to play host to the Sydney Kings at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Saturday night for their first NBL game of 2025.

The Bullets played eight games throughout December as their schedule ramped up including four games from December 20 through to 29, and now they have had a bit of time to regroup and get ready for things to pick up once more.

The first challenge for 2025 for Brisbane will be playing host to Sydney on Saturday night with the Kings fresh off a stirring come from behind Thursday night win while the Bullets will be unveiling new import Josh Adams.

Brisbane comes into the contest with a 9-10 record and while they did lose their past two games of 2024, they were against the league-leading Illawarra Hawks who made it five straight wins, and the defending champion Tasmania JackJumpers who made it eight straight victories.

Prior to that and the Bullets had won five of their previous six matches to be building some impressive form and averaging scoring over 111 points a game in those five wins.

The Bullets will be hosting a Kings team who had lost their previous two matches at home and were 18 points down in the third quarter on Thursday night against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

However, Sydney then delivered 38 points in the fourth quarter to end up winning by nine with point guard Jaylen Adams scoring 21 of those in the final 10 minutes as they arrive at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre feeling good after that.

The two teams have already met twice this season and the first time was at the Entertainment Centre back on October 5 where Sydney opened up a 29-point lead before the Bullets scored the last 16 points to only end up losing by nine.

The next meeting was in Sydney on December 15 and the Bullets produced a strong first three quarters before running out of legs in the final period while playing a fourth game inside nine days against a fresh opponent.

The Bullets will have some troops back for the Saturday night match up too with Rocco Zikarsky and Deng Adel expected to be right to add some punch and size to the front court.

Then there is the addition of new import Josh Adams who is the replacement for James Batemon who unfortunately has had his season ended with a hamstring injury.

Adams is no stranger to the league having played in the inaugural JackJumpers season in NBL22 and being instrumental in them reaching the Championship Series, and now his Bullets debut will be against that same Sydney opponent on Saturday night.

Bullets coach Justin Schueller sees Adams as the ideal man to replace Batemon to ensure the Bullets have that lethal third scoring and shooting threat alongside Casey Prather and Keandre Cook.

"What we had with JB was three guys who you really had to worry about on the scouting report and then add in Norto, Ty, Whitey and everyone else benefited from that," Schueller said.

"That's exactly what Josh will bring in as well to be that guy who can plug and play the same sort of way, and I went back and looked at my review of Game 3 of that semi-final series and the clutch ability of him is something that we will look forward to.

"The culture piece is the big thing for us and having connections within the group means he will fit in with this group who is super tight and connected. He worked out with Rocco pre-season and there's a lot of connectivity there to get to as whole as we can be."

Bullets captain Norton played against Adams when he was at the JackJumpers and he was at the Perth Wildcats, and remembers what a challenge it was to try and keep him in check.

"I remember him being super competitive and as a defender you couldn’t take a possession, or a moment in a possession, off," Norton said.

"Everything was live with him, he's an athlete and I'm excited to team up with him, to get him in town and to get to work."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Sydney Kings

Tip off: 7:00pm (AEST), Saturday 4 January, 2025

Where: Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Tickets: Available Here

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo