Preview: NBL26 R7 Home v Cairns Taipans

The Brisbane Bullets remain at home this week for two games at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre starting on Thursday night in a second Sunshine Stoush of NBL26 against the Cairns Taipans.

The Bullets have already played nine matches over the opening six rounds of the NBL season with six of those away from home, so this week is the first opportunity for the group to actually spend time back in Brisbane without the need to jump on a plane.

They played at home to the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday night suffering a 23-point defeat less than 48 hours after a stunning come from behind win in Auckland against the New Zealand Breakers.

The Bullets now hold a 3-6 record for the season to date ahead of two matches at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre this week beginning on Thursday night against Queensland rivals, the Taipans.

Backing that up less than 48 hours later and the Bullets will remain at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre to play host to the Sydney Kings who are also smarting after a heartbreaking loss on Sunday at home of their own to the Tasmania JackJumpers.

First up this week for the Bullets is taking on the Taipans in the second meeting between the two Queensland teams already of this NBL season.

The first encounter back in the Far North was on September 26 and it turned out to be a thriller with the Snakes winning 83-82 but the Bullets did have their opportunities that night.

Brisbane did lose Sam McDaniel in the opening minutes of that game to an ankle injury and since have also parted ways with Javon Freeman-Liberty, and now this Thursday will be the unveiling his replacement Dakota Mathias.

As Cairns arrive in Brisbane, they have lost their past six matches this season and of the seven defeats they've had so far in NBL26, they have come with an average margin of 24.3 points including four of those by 30-plus points.

However, the Bullets will need to be mindful of a Taipans team still featuring imports Andrew Andrews, Admiral Schofield and Marcus Lee, Boomers sharpshooter Reyne Smith and could regain the services of Jack McVeigh.

Bullets coach Stu Lash is glad that his team gets to spend a week at home, but there's no room to rest because of that with two more tough games to come in front of the home fans starting with the Taipans on Thursday night.

"There's no easy game and the schedule is really challenging all year long and I have a lot of respect for all the teams in the league," Lash said.

"We get two off days now, we get two really good days of practice and then we get two games at home without travel.

"There'll be a lot of positivity and there are things we've got to take away from this game, and we'll watch the film and learn and get better from it, and we'll come out ready to play on Thursday."

The Bullets have combined to shoot 17/61 from downtown in the last three matches, but Lash is still confident in them being a good outside shooting team especially with the arrival of new import Mathias.

He will be available starting Thursday night against the Taipans for the Bullets and given he's shot the three ball on a high volume at around the 40 per cent mark his entire professional career, he'll providing a significant shooting boost.

But Lash is looking at him to help in plenty more areas than just being a good outside shooter.

"He'll be available for the next round and he's a basketball IQ player, a really good shooter and understands ball movement and execution," Lash said.

"I think he'll fit in really well with the current group and just give us another connector type player that understands how to play systematic basketball, and can still get his own shot.

"He's a good ball carrier too so he can help in that area where without Norto (Mitch Norton) we are really only having two primary ball carriers with Tristan (Devers) being one of them who is still in his development phase of that part of the position."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Cairns Taipans

Tip off: 5:30pm (AEST), Thursday 30 October, 2025

Where: Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Tickets: Available Here

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