Preview: NBL25 R9 Home v Perth Wildcats

There's a lot of firsts in NBL25 for the Brisbane Bullets with a first Sunday game for the season, a first match against the Perth Wildcats and the first time playing back-to-back games in a round – with building on what they did on Friday now the goal.

After playing eight games in the opening eight rounds of the NBL season, the Bullets now have consecutive games for the first time in the one weekend having played in Hobart against the Tasmania JackJumpers on Friday night.

There was plenty to like in what Brisbane did in that game too against the reigning champions despite Tasmania winning 95-92 in a thrilling finish.

The Bullets opened the game scoring 17 of the first 20 points and then thanks to three of his five three-pointers for the game in the fourth quarter, Keandre Cook had them in a strong position leading by six with 2:30 to go.

While they couldn’t quite close the deal, there were plenty of positives that the Bullets will now attempt to build upon when hosting the Wildcats at Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Sunday afternoon in the last NBL game ahead of the FIBA break next week.

It's the first time that Brisbane has played Perth this season with the Bullets coming into the game now with a 3-6 record while the Wildcats are 6-6.

Both teams are in similar situations as well having played on Friday night with the Bullets coming back from Hobart, and the Wildcats heading to Brisbane after beating the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Perth.

It also presents the chance for former Perth players and championship winners Mitch Norton and Casey Prather to face their former team for the first time in NBL25.

Bullets coach Justin Schueller knows the challenge the Wildcats present especially with four-time MVP Bryce Cotton back and putting up 33 points on Friday, but really it's all about trying to get a full 40-minute strong performance from his group.

"Quick turnarounds for us is always about looking internal and worrying more about who we are, and who we want to be," Schueller said.

"That was the message straight after the game was that no one is dropping their head and it was a frustrating loss, but we know that at least we lost playing well.

"If we can double down on the things we did well, do it for longer consistent periods then we feel pretty good about going home and getting to face them for the first time this year."

On personnel front, Tohi Smith-Milner will return for the Bullets after remaining home to welcome his first child to play his 150th NBL game, but Schueller will have to wait and see how Prather and Deng Adel have pulled up.

"Both Deng and Casey we need to assess them and see where they're at. It's too early to really tell but they shut Deng down so that one is probably less unlikely than likely, but we won't know fully until we see how they pull up," Schueller said.

"He (Smith-Milner) was lucky to go through that on Thursday with his partner Hana and we couldn’t be happier for them. If a player is going to miss a game, we'd much rather it be for that than injury.

"We're excited for him and their new little family, the boys were ribbing him that because he was born in Australia he's not a Kiwi born boy, but we're very excited for him."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Perth Wildcats

Tip off: 3:30pm (AEST), Sunday 17 November, 2024

Where: Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Tickets: Available Here

Watch: 10 Bold, ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo