Preview: NBL25 R7 Away to Cairns Taipans

The Brisbane Bullets head to the Far North for the first Sunshine Stoush on Saturday night of NBL25 against the Cairns Taipans with coach Justin Schueller knowing there's always that bit of extra feeling when the Queensland rivals lock horns.

Following the last two games home at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre over the past two weeks, the Bullets hit the road for the first time since beating the South East Melbourne Phoenix back on October 12.

Brisbane came into the contest after a narrow loss to the Tasmania JackJumpers last Saturday night on the back of winning the past two matches to now be heading to Cairns with a 2-4 record.

The Taipans currently sit on a 3-6 record in their season having now lost their past five matches but they remain a dangerous opponent with gun scorer Rob Edwards and impressive Kiwi big man Sam Waardenburg part of their line-up.

The match up will be the first Sunshine Stoush match up of the season as well after four dramatic contests between the rivals back in NBL24 which saw both teams win two apiece including Brisbane winning on the last visit to Cairns 102-84 on January 21.

"These games are always enjoyable for us and we know they are our rivals, and there's always a bit extra in the games," Schueller said.

"Something kind of random happened in each of the games last season so hopefully they are a bit more normal this year, but in saying that, it doesn’t matter who Cairns put on the floor, we know they are going to be ready for the battle as will we.

"That's what we like about this game is that it doesn’t matter where the teams are positioned on the ladder, it's always going to be a pretty good showing."

No matter what is happening with the Taipans and they do look set to be without starting trio Pedro Bradshaw, Taran Armstrong and Tanner Groves, Schueller knows that nobody at the Bullets will be taking them lightly.

It's quite the rivalry that has built since the Snakes and Bullets have been the sole Queensland teams in the NBL and Schueller got the first taste of that in their first four meetings last season where drama ensued in each match up.

"They've got a lot of different things happening with their group right now and we're not too sure who is actually suiting up for them, and no one has been fully ruled out outside of Bradshaw for this one," Schueller said.

"So for us we just need to lean into who we are and what we want to be in this game. That's the part that's the simplicity part because we understand how we need to play, and how we need to go about it possession by possession.

"Our challenge is can we do it for the 40 minutes and that's what we have focused in on at practice this week."

The Bullets also breathed a sigh of relief this week with hot-shooting forward Tohi Smith-Milner given the all clear to play despite a scare in the second half last Saturday night against the JackJumpers.

That leaves Brisbane just missing Deng Adel for the trip to Cairns while Emmett Naar won't make his debut until next week as the replacement for Sam McDaniel.

"Tohi has got through training fully now and he has been cleared, and is good to go," Schueller said.

"That's a big relief and at the start of the week we probably weren’t 100 per cent certain of that, so he'll be in and the spacing and the shooting he provides is something we will need against this Cairns team."

The Bullets will be taking on Queensland rivals the Taipans at Cairns Convention Centre on Saturday night with tip-off set for 7pm local time.

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Cairns Taipans

Tip off: 7:00pm (AEST), Saturday 2 November, 2024

Where: Cairns Convention Centre

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo