Preview: NBL25 R20 Away v Cairns Taipans

The Brisbane Bullets had a win to remember last Friday in Adelaide and can now close the NBL regular season in style still on the road to the Cairns Taipans on Thursday night.

Whatever hopes the Bullets have of still finding a way into the top six were kept alive with their stirring in in Adelaide last Friday night.

The fact that the 36ers are the only team that the Bullets can displace in the top six was an added bonus to that victory with the hopes of Brisbane staying alive when Adelaide also lost in Melbourne to the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Sunday.

A whole lot still needs to fall into place for the Bullets to be any chance to make the top six, but that has to start with a win first of all against the Taipans in Cairns on Thursday night before even beginning to think about anything else.

If Brisbane is able to secure the win in Cairns, then they also need the 36ers to lose in Perth on Friday night to the Wildcats and the Taipans to go to Hobart on Saturday and beat the Tasmania JackJumpers.

Should all that happen, then it will come down to the points difference and on top of winning and having those teams lose, to overtake the 36ers the Bullets need to make up almost 100 points with their victory and the loss for the Sixers.

That's all a long winded way of saying that the Bullets have a lot they need to fall into place, but coach Justin Schueller and the playing group are all about just focusing on what you can control.

And what the Bullets can control themselves is taking care of business in Cairns and beating the Taipans which is where the sole focus is on this week.

The Bullets come into the match up, and while there might not be any relief on a personnel front coming, full of confidence and spirit after that win in Adelaide last Friday night.

It was a terrific all-round showing in a game where the Bullets ended up with 14 second chance points, 17 points off the 36ers turnovers and 15 fast break point while playing a disciplined, focused and strong defensive game for 40 minutes.

There was a lot to like from whoever was on the floor for the Bullets whether it was Tohi Smith-Milner standing tall against Adelaide's bigs, Casey Prather and Keandre Cook combining for 43 points and 13 rebounds, or Isaac White, Josh Adams and Mitch Norton outstanding in the back court.

The key now for the Bullets is to come up with a similarly strong 40-minute performance in the fourth and final Sunshine Stoush of the season.

The Bullets did win the first two match ups with the Taipans this season by four points back on November 2 also in Cairns and then at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on December 20 in a high-scoring thriller by three points.

The most recent clash was also at the BEC back on January 17 and that was a night to forget for the Bullets with the Taipans winning by 31 with Brisbane still trying to find their way with the host of key players out with injury or concussions.

The Bullets have now won two of the three games since and while Schueller also hasn’t forgotten the last meeting with the Taipans, he likes the way his group has come together to now aim to finish the regular season on a winning note.

"We just had to focus on recovering after that last game first of all and obviously JA (Adams) took a hit there to the ribs so we had to assess him, and some guys played some big minutes," Schueller said.

"But we travelled home, got a rest day on Sunday and then got back to work to prepare for this game in Cairns. What we believe in is that if you do the work you'll get the reward in the end.

"We weren’t happy with how we performed last time against Cairns so we can't wait to get up there and finish our season right, and keep our playoff hopes alive."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Cairns Taipans

Tip off: 6:30pm (AEST), Thursday 6 February, 2025

Where: Cairns Convention Centre

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo