Preview: Round 7 vs South East Melbourne Phoenix

The Brisbane Bullets are looking to return to winning ways in front of their home fans on Saturday afternoon, when they host South East Melbourne Phoenix at Nissan Arena.

Brisbane are coming off a tough five-point loss to the New Zealand Breakers last weekend, which was the Bullets’ first taste of NBL competition in 21 days.

While they couldn’t quite do enough to get across the line against the Breakers, an improved performance in the second-half will give Bullets fans plenty to be excited about ahead of the upcoming match against the Phoenix.

Saturday’s match promises to be a tough challenge for the Bullets, with South East Melbourne currently third on the NBL ladder, having lost just one of their four matches to start the season.

But with wins this season over the Perth Wildcats and Illawarra Hawks, who are first and second on the NBL ladder, the Bullets have already shown basketball fans that they can match it with the best teams in the League.

Match Details

Tip-off: Saturday, January 15 at 4:30pm AEST

Venue: Nissan Arena

Broadcast: Live on ESPN via Kayo or Foxtel

Tickets: Available via Ticketek

Competition

By entering your details via HERE, you could win two courtside seats and signed jerseys from Zhou Qi and Chuanxing Liu!

Tale of the Tape

Having only joined the NBL in the 2019-20 season, the early history between South East Melbourne and the Bullets is still being written.

While this rivalry is still relatively young, the two sides have met eight times so far, and they can’t be split. Both the Bullets and Phoenix have won four matches apiece in the history of this matchup, but it’s the Brisbane outfit who’ve had bragging rights over the off-season.

Two of Brisbane’s wins over the Phoenix came at the end of last season, and ultimately cost South East Melbourne third-place last season.

In the final round of NBL21, the Bullets beat the Phoenix 91-84, before beating them again in Brisbane 94-84 less than a week later.

Recent Form

Bullets: L-W-L-W-L

Phoenix: W-W-W-L

Having not played in almost a month, the Phoenix’s most recent match was an 84-73 loss to the Sydney Kings. This was South East Melbourne’s first and only loss of the season so far, having previously been 3-0 and top of the NBL standings.

Before that match against the Kings, the Phoenix had beaten the Breakers twice to start their season, before defeating reigning NBL champions Melbourne United by eight.

As for the Bullets, they’re the only team in the League who haven’t been able to record consecutive wins or losses this season. Since starting their season with an overtime loss to Tasmania, the Bullets have alternated between loses and wins, and currently have a 2-3 record to their name.

Brisbane got off to a slow start last Sunday against the Breakers and they were unable to recover, eventually finishing the match with a season-high 20 turnovers.

But a number of players stepped up and with the support of the home crowd spurring the team on, the Bullets fell just short of what would’ve been an impressive comeback. Centre Jack Salt impressed in the best NBL game of his career to date, as did the ever reliable Nathan Sobey and Lamar Patterson.

The Bullets have averaged 95 points in matches they have won this season, but just over 75 when they have lost. In fact, it’s clearly crucial that the Bullets set the tone on the scoreboard, having lost 20 matches in a row when they haven’t scored more than 85 points.

Milestones

Jason Cadee will become the 24^th player to play 100 games for the club when the takes the floor at Nissan Arena on Saturday. Cadee has played every game for the Bullets since making his debut in October 2018.   

Cadee is also four three-pointers away from reaching 500 3PM in his NBL career.

Nathan Sobey is one three-pointer away from 300 3PM in his NBL career.

Key Players

Anthony Drmic – Brisbane Bullets

Highlighted as our Hostplus Performance of the Game, Anthony Drmic was impressive in the loss to the Breakers last weekend. The 29-year-old finished the night with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and shot 66% from the field.

As one of he Bullets regular starters so far this season, Drmic will likely be looked to again for more big minutes in a match which is already very important.

Last time out against the Phoenix, Drmic had 16 points and seven rebounds.

Lamar Patterson is another player who stood up in that match, finishing with 19 points. Patterson also had great contributions last weekend, and will be a key contributor in the upcoming match.

Mitch Creek – South East Melbourne Phoenix

When looking at the key players for the Phoenix, Mitch Creek stands. Not only has Creek proven himself in the NBL, he also has NBA experience with the Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

This season alone, Creek recently scored a career-high 36 points against the Breakers. He’s currently second in scoring this season with an average of 23.3 points a game.

Last time out against the Bullets, Creek was the go-to scoring option for the Phoenix. While his side ended up losing by 10, the now 29-year-old scored a team-high 17 points, had three rebounds and four assists.

Another player to look out for is South East Melbourne’s centre, Zhou Qi.

Qi is averaging the most blocks per game this season with 4.25 a game, having made 17 from his four games played. Impressively, he had 12 blocks from his last two matches alone.

The centre is 216cm tall, which makes him the third-tallest player in the history of the NBL. He could potentially come up against Brisbane centre Chuxanxing Liu, who’s the tallest player in the history of the competition (225cm).

With Tyrell Harrison also playing, this match could potentially see three of the five tallest players in NBL history take the floor.