Preview: Round 20 v Melbourne United | John Cain Arena

When: 5.30pm (AEDT), Saturday 16 April, 2022
Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo

The Brisbane Bullets face Melbourne United in a Round 20 Saturday night match up at John Cain Arena.

The Bullets will have minimal rotations tonight with Isaiah Moss, Tamuri Wigness, Tom Digbeu and Taane Samuel all sidelined due to illness (flu). This is in addition to Nathan Sobey and Tyrell Harrison who are out for the remainder of the season. Those available will need to battle hard, needing to play extended minutes against the league leaders.

Who won the last time?
Melbourne 95 (Lual-Acuil 20, Agada 15, Ili 13, White 13) d Brisbane 83 (Franks 20, Cadee 17, Digbeu 11) – Round 14, John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Brisbane locked down the United offence in the opening half and led by three early in the third, but Caleb Agada and Jo Lual-Acuil went to work, combining for 17 points in a 30-16 run bridging three-quarter-time as Melbourne took control with a 59-46 second half.

What happened last start?
Brisbane defeated the 36ers thanks to a decisive 25-15 third quarter in Adelaide. It was the Bullets’ bench who again got the job done, outscoring the starters 47-46 with Robert Franks sidelined. Over the past four games the Bullets bench has averaged 39.5ppg.

The story was similar in Cairns last round, with the United defence, locking down the Taipans to 25 second-half points while racking up 49 themselves. The hot hands of Chris Goulding and Lual-Acuil combined for 43 points at 61 per cent.

Who’s in form?
Jason Cadee – A firing Cadee is typically the key to a successful Bullets scoring spree, averaging 18.5ppg, 7.5 dimes and 4 triples at 48 per cent in their past four wins, with Brisbane passing 90 points on each occasion. He had 17 points at 70 per cent last time against United.

Chris Goulding –Goulding’s past four games have delivered 18.5ppg on 4.5 triples at 45 per cent. When CG is on from beyond, Melbourne are tough, going 13-2 when their skipper makes three or more threes and 5-5 when he doesn’t.

WHO’S STATTING UP?
 - The Bullets are 5-6 from their past 11 games, scoring 94.4ppg in the five wins, compared to 78.8ppg in the half-dozen defeats
 - In those wins, Brisbane have averaged 20.4 assists per game. Over the rest of the season they’ve averaged 16.2
 - United are 5-3 since they last played Brisbane, conceding 95ppg in those losses, but just 78ppg in the five victories
 - In their past three losses, to Perth and Illawarra, United have conceded 76ppg from ‘ones and twos’, compared to just 53.1ppg over the rest of the season

STATS LEADERS

BULLETS
Points: Robert Franks 18.04ppg (#5 in the NBL)
Rebounds: Robert Franks 8. 86rpg (#4 in the NBL)
Assists: Jason Cadee, 4.81apg (#8 in the NBL)

UNITED

Points: Jo Lual-Acuil Jr 16.79ppg (#7 in the NBL)

Rebounds: Jo Lual-Acuil Jr, 9.17rpg (#3 in the NBL)
Assists: Matthew Dellevadova, 5.2apg (#6 in the NBL) 

Who’s matching up?
Jack White v Robert Franks – Robo is leading the league, with 11 double-doubles. He’s grabbed 10.5 boards over his past six games, setting up a monster battle with White.

Both players are long, athletic and battle hard on the boards to give their respective teams extra possessions.

Who’s talking the talk?
Brisbane Bullets Hostplus Head Coach James Duncan was pleased with the way his team handled the pressure late-game in Adelaide.

“These are good building blocks for us where teams are going to do that and we need find ways to still execute, not panic, screen, find the open man and we were able to do that and make plays down the end,” he said.

“It feels really good that there’s so many guys that stepped up and put their foot forward, or put their hand up to defend or rebound, and just make the right play.”

“It's just being physical and making hits, it’s a choice and we made a choice to do that in the second half,” he said.

“It’s hard work and we've got to be prepared, we’re playing Melbourne on the road, who’s leading the comp, and we play Cairns in our last game who we haven't beaten all season so it's a huge challenge for us.

“In saying that, this game was a huge challenge for us considering what happened in the last game. We are capable of bouncing back, so we look forward to the challenge that’s going to come.”