Preview: NBL26 R10 Home v SE Melbourne Phoenix

The Brisbane Bullets return to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre this Thursday night in their last NBL game before the FIBA break against the South East Melbourne Phoenix looking to reward the home fans.

The Bullets had a tough night last Wednesday with a 29-point Ignite Cup loss to the New Zealand Breakers at the Gold Coast Sport and Leisure Centre with that then topped with what happened in the days following.

Casey Prather injured his knee early in the fourth quarter of that game on Wednesday and subsequently he has undergone surgery that has ended his NBL26 season.

Then there was the departure of Jaylen Adams ahead of the team's trip to Melbourne to take on the league-leading United with them not only without Prather and Adams, but still missing injured pair Sam McDaniel and Tohi Smith-Milner.

The Bullets then did find themselves 21 points down in the third quarter, but then produced a scintillating fourth period with 39 points to get back as close as three to the league-leading Melbourne.

Mitch Norton and Lamar Patterson scored 27 of those 39 points between them in what was a heartening last 10 minutes of basketball against the odds from the Bullets against the best team currently in the league.

Now the Bullets return home this Thursday night for their last game of NBL26 before the FIBA international break when they play host to the third placed Phoenix at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

The Phoenix arrive in Brisbane with an 8-3 record on the season and fresh off an 11-point win in Cairns last Friday night ahead of now playing a second consecutive game in Queensland.

The two teams have already played earlier this season at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre which saw the Phoenix score the 109-86 victory against the Bullets.

On that night, former Bullets captain Nathan Sobey led the way for South East Melbourne with 29 points and four assists with Jordan Hunter adding 12 points, five rebounds and three assists, John Brown III 12 points and three boards, Angus Glover 10 points and four rebounds, and Akech Aliir 10 points and five boards.

The Bullets didn’t have Mitch Norton, Jacob Holt and Dakota Mathias in that first clash with the Phoenix and the trio will all be playing this Thursday night but returning import Javon Freeman-Liberty won't be back available until after the FIBA international break.

What the game presents for the Bullets is a chance for a better home performance to reward the loyal Brisbane fans having won just one of five games at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre so far this season.

That's certainly a big focus for coach Stu Lash coming into Thursday night's game which they will be throwing everything at without having another game until a road trip to Adelaide after the break on Friday December 5.

"We are itching to have a big time performance at home, we know we have not put the level of play that we're capable of at home," Lash said.

"It's not from an excuse standpoint by any means, but we've had a ton of home games on the back end of back-to-backs which for the body, it doesn’t feel like a home game.

"Yes, you are playing at home but when you're travelling back from Perth or New Zealand, you don't recover the same way so to be able to have a home game this week with a week at home leading into it, we're really looking forward to that at our home arena, and we'll put forward a great effort."

Bullets rookie Taine Murray also can't wait to get back to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre this Thursday to show the home fans some effort they deserve to see from their team against the Phoenix.

"We appreciate all the support that we do get from our fans and I hope it shows that through it all, we're obviously going to play as hard as we can and we all believe in what this club is about," Murray said.

"We're just trying to play as hard as we can and give our fans the best product we can."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs South East Melbourne Phoenix

Tip off: 6:30pm (AEST), Thursday 20 November, 2025

Where: Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Tickets: Available Here

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