Preview: Round 3 vs Sydney Kings at Nissan Arena

The Brisbane Bullets begin a fascinating Round 3 NBL24 double-header against the last two championship winning teams by playing host to the Sydney Kings on Friday in the Black Out Game.

The Bullets won their opening two games of the 2023/24 NBL season firstly at home at Nissan Arena to the Adelaide 36ers and then last Thursday night on the road to the Grand Finalists from last season, the New Zealand Breakers.

Brisbane then suffered a first loss of the new season this past Saturday night also at home to the Cairns Taipans in the Sunshine Stoush contest.

The Bullets now have two games to prepare for in Round 3 of the NBL season starting on Friday night at Nissan Arena against the champions of the past two years, the Sydney Kings, and then heading on the road for Sunday's clash with the 2021 champions, Melbourne United.

Friday night's contest will see the Bullets wear special black uniforms for the occasion to raise awareness for mental health in support of the Black Dog Institute.

For Hostplus Bullets Head Coach Justin Schueller, he's looking forward to the challenge this week against both the Kings and United, but also to see how his group responds to their first loss of the season.

"Right now that game feels like a long time ago and for us it's a great opportunity to go against the Kings and Melbourne," Schueller said.

"They're two teams that championships have gone through over the years and that's what we're about is testing ourselves against them, and putting ourselves in a position to win both games."

It's never fun to lose and the Bullets have been disappointed in the review of Saturday night's game against the Taipans this week, but what it does provide is the chance to fix up the things that let them down in that clash.

There's now no better tests than taking on the Kings and United in one weekend for Round 3, but for Schueller it's all about learning the lessons from the loss to the Snakes, and putting it into action against two quality opponents.

"What we're all about is constantly moving forward and that's all I care about right now is how do we become a club that doesn’t accept a loss like that," he said.

"We let that game go away, we know that, and that's where it's all about making sure we're in a position where we put ourselves in a great spot to go get a win.

"It was frustrating to drop that game and we thought we were in a winnable position there, but now we're in a great opportunity to go against two great clubs who we know we can put ourselves against.

"We played both in the pre-season, we know our lessons from that and where we can be better, and that's what I'm excited about for sure."

Starts to games for the Bullets haven't been ideal so far this season and it's been an area of focus for Schueller and his coaching staff to work on with the playing group coming into this weekend's games against Sydney and Melbourne.

Schueller certainly doesn’t expect any more signs of those slow starts moving forward starting on Friday night against the Kings at Nissan Arena.

"We have spoken about that and that's part of who we are right now, we are trying to learn winning habits and what that looks like time and time again," Schueller said.

"We can't be a group who takes two, three possessions to get going and we don’t want to be that group. So that's the lessons we're learning from now and we're striving to work out how we can make improvements in that. I think it's something you'll definitely see differently moving ahead."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Sydney Kings

Tip off: 6:30pm (AEST), Friday 13 October, 2023

Where: Nissan Arena

Tickets: Available Here

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