Preview: NBL25 R6 Home v Tasmania JackJumpers

The Brisbane Bullets remain home at Brisbane Entertainment Centre this Saturday night hosting the defending NBL champion Tasmania JackJumpers and looking for a third straight victory to continue to build some impressive momentum.

The Bullets have now strung two wins together in NBL25 beginning with a win in Melbourne against the South East Melbourne Phoenix ahead of last Thursday night's home victory against the New Zealand Breakers.

Brisbane is now back at the Entertainment Centre this Saturday evening to play host to the JackJumpers with the chance for the Bullets to make it three consecutive victories to improve to a 3-3 record following the opening six rounds of the season.

Having not played since last Thursday night and with nine days in between games, Bullets coach Justin Schueller can sense how badly his players just want game day to arrive, but he's also impressed with their focus on continuing to improve day to day.

"I know I demand more and more from the players at this stage of the week, and want everything to be perfect, but I know they are always itching to just get the game day roll up," Schueller said.

"But we have a group that really understands where we're at and what we are trying to achieve this year so the opportunity to keep working on our craft, and keep on getting better is something everyone's enjoying.

"We've been at the Entertainment Centre all week which has been a nice little bonus and now come game night, we'll be ready to go and it's been a positive week for us again. Hopefully we show that to our home fans on Saturday night."

The Bullets will have the same group available for Thursday night's clash with the JackJumpers that beat the Phoenix with Sam McDaniel sidelined as he will be for the season while Deng Adel is still expected to miss the next two games.

The rest of the squad is fit and raring to go to take on the JackJumpers who are coming off winning the NBL24 championship, and arrive in Brisbane with a 2-5 record to start their title defence including having lost the last three in-a-row.

The JackJumpers might be struggling to score this season with a league-low 77.4 points, but their defence has remained a strength which included just conceding 80 and 77 points respectively last weekend in losses to the high-powered Sydney Kings and Adelaide 36ers.

Tasmania might have lost three straight, but led by coach Scott Roth and with superstar trio Jordon Crawford, Milton Doyle and Will Magnay, they remain a team that Schueller and his Bullets team have enormous respect for.

The two teams have played one another nine times over the past three seasons and the majority of those have been thrillers going right down to the wire, with only one ending up with a double-figure margin.

The JackJumpers have won five of the nine games and the Bullets four, with the last meeting back on January 10 this year seeing Brisbane score the win at Nissan Arena on the back of a huge three from Chris Smith on the buzzer.

The Bullets have the chance to square the ledger at 5-5 in the first 10 match ups with Tasmania, and to also improve to 3-3 overall this season with Schueller focusing more about Brisbane getting things right themselves.

"I make of them what I always do, and you often can't tell if they are winning or lose, they are always the same consistent group game in, game out," Schueller said.

"That's what we expect from them coming into Brisbane this week and they are the defending champs, they deserve to be looked at as a threat ever single game in my opinion.

"We know what's coming into the building, but we also feel confident with the way that we've been playing and the way we've been able to go about our work.

"It's two teams that probably operate in a similar mould and won't mind if it's a grind out sort of game, and ultimately we want to make sure that we are taking care of us.

"We want to continue to do that and that's been the focus these last couple of games, and it's boded well for us. It's a little bit more about us than them right now."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Tasmania JackJumpers

Tip off: 7:00pm (AEST), Saturday 26 October, 2024

Where: Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Tickets: Available Here

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo