Preview: NBL26 R6 Away v NZ Breakers

The Brisbane Bullets opened NBL26 with a win in Auckland against the New Zealand Breakers and they will attempt to repeat the dose this Thursday as part of Indigenous Round.

The Bullets had two games in three days in similar circumstances back in Round 4 as well and almost pulled off two tremendous victories in the space of 48 hours, and will now look to keep that momentum going.

First up for the Bullets is a Thursday night match up at Auckland's Eventfinda Stadium (previously North Shore Events Centre) against the Breakers before then returning straight home to play host to South East Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday afternoon.

Brisbane come into the match up with a 2-5 record to be just on the outside of the NBL's top six while New Zealand are sitting on a 2-6 record.

Both teams played two matches in 48 hours last round which included the Bullets scoring a tremendous 110-93 win on the road to the Perth Wildcats on Wednesday night.

It was then a tough turnaround to come straight back home to host the league-leading and undefeated Melbourne United on Saturday night.

The Bullets then did find themselves 20 points down early in the fourth quarter but then produced a stirring fightback led by Jaylen Adams who scored 20 of his 29 points in that last term in his best performance of the season.

Brisbane did go ever so close to two wins in the space of 48 hours ahead of now facing a similar schedule this week with the Thursday away game to the Breakers and then coming home to host the Phoenix on Saturday.

The Breakers are also coming off two games last week which began with them beating the Tasmania JackJumpers at home on Friday night before also having a quick turnaround to playing United in Melbourne on Sunday, and going down by 16 points.

It's already the second time that the Bullets and Breakers have played one another this season and the second time in Auckland, although the Round 1 clash was at Spark Arena when Brisbane beat New Zealand 104-95.

In that victory, Casey Prather top-scored with 27 points for the Bullets with Tyrell Harrison adding 24 points and 15 rebounds, Javon Freeman-Liberty 17 points, six boards and five assists, Adams 14 points and seven assists, Sam McDaniel 10 points and five boards, and Alex Ducas 10 points and three assists.

McDaniel and Mitch Norton will still be sidelined with injury along with Jacob Holt while Freeman-Liberty has since departed with Lamar Patterson stepping in as a replacement, and Ducas will face a race against time to prove his fitness after injuring an ankle on Saturday.

Bullets coach Stu Lash couldn't have been prouder of the performance of his team in last week's two games in 48 hours on opposite sides of the country, but he was left to lament their 20 turnovers and 10 missed foul shots against United.

"There were sloppy in the moments in the game and they actually had 16 turnovers too, and the two things I circled were the 20 turnovers and 17/27 from the line, and those are probably more like mental mistakes which came from fatigue," Lash said.

"There's no excuses, but it's a long trip home from Perth on the short turnaround and we're basically playing like six guys and fighting tooth and nail with the top team in the league.

"We do have to be better with the ball still but it got real sloppy for both teams down the stretch so it's just tough and I felt like we left it all out there, and had we made a couple more free throws it could have been different.

"Even early in the game we missed some easy layups and we were down 12 or 14 but it felt like it was only six or seven with the way we were playing, and we wanted to just hang in there before cleaning up a few things at half-time.

"We were locked in and the guys played their arse off and that's what they are going to continue to do."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs New Zealand Breakers

Tip off: 4:30pm (AEST), Thursday 23 October, 2025

Where: Eventfinda Stadium (North Shore Events Centre)

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel, Disney+, Kayo and Fetch