Proud Lash has full faith in Bullets' direction

Proud was the first word that came to mind for Brisbane Bullets coach Stu Lash after his team's first home game of the season and a big reason why he didn’t want to use injuries as an excuse was his faith in the whole squad.

Lash coached his first home game for the Bullets at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Saturday night in the eventual two-point defeat to the Tasmania JackJumpers.

While it was always going to be a challenge in the absence of Casey Prather (concussion), Javon Freeman-Liberty (ankle), Mitch Norton (knee) and Sam McDaniel (ankle), Lash had full faith in other players to stand up and that proved to be justified.

"Proud is a good word and it's a word I just used in the locker room," Lash said.

"We talk about the character of this group and the willingness to compete, and our preparation this week was spot on.

"The guys come in and do their work, they hold themselves accountable and it's a very professional environment that we have going on right now in Brisbane.

"If you're not in our walls every day, I don’t expect you to understand and you probably don’t even have a right to have an opinion."

That included Taine Murray grabbing his chance starting once again and having never made an NBL field goal previously, he scored 17 points on the back of 7/10 field goal shooting and landing 3/5 from downtown.

Alex Ducas also continues to fit in well with another 12 points while Tristan Devers made the most of his 16 minutes with seven points and four assists with the Bullets +12 with him out there.

Lamar Patterson also had a significant impact with the Bullets +8 in his 10 minutes where he had two points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists.

Tohi Smith-Milner then also had seven points and 10 rebounds, Jack Purchase six points, Cal Dalton four points and two rebounds, and there was plenty to like in the performance despite conceding the last five points to Tasmania to lose by two in the finish.

Tyrell Harrison battled foul trouble but still had eight points and seven rebounds as well with Jaylen Adams top-scoring with 19 points to go with seven assists, four steals and four rebounds.

A big reason why Lash was never going to fall back on the excuse of the injuries was the faith he had in everyone on the Bullets squad to step up.

"It starts with the recruitment and we target guys who have heart, and are willing to play hard and compete," Lash said.

"And who play for each and take joy in each other's success. So when you have those type of athletes in your playing group, injuries are not an excuse and just a reality, and provide an opportunity for others to step up.

"I was really happy to see those guys get an opportunity and for Jack to come in and make a couple of threes. Cal came in and had a presence when Ty was in foul trouble, and Tristan played 15 minutes and he's +12 with four assists and no turnovers and he's a development player.

"I'm not sure how much more I can ask of those type of guys. Tohi comes in and has 10 rebounds in a starting role and he has such a feel for the game that there's almost like a comfort level with him out there.

"Those guys put the work in and when you go about it the right way, the results are going to come."

Murray found his feet over the past couple of games where he was thrown in the deep end with the injury to McDaniel to have to defend genuine superstars, Jack McVeigh and Bryce Cotton.

He hadn’t made a field goal in those two games against Cairns and Adelaide, but took on more offensive confidence on Saturday night to end up with 17 points and Lash was delighted for him.

"Really happy for Taine and he puts the work in. He's the first in the gym, the last to leave and we didn’t recruit him to be the 'Bryce Stopper'," Lash said.

"But we asked him to guard McVeigh once SMac went down, then Bryce a couple days later and his focused shifted to that end of the floor, and his compete is really, really high.

"I was just really happy that he got an opportunity to play a little looser and freer in this game, and I said I couldn’t take him out so he could just let it rip and have some fun out there."

While it's been a challenging first four games of NBL26 for the Bullets with three of them on the road and then with the injuries to Prather, Norton, McDaniel and Freeman-Liberty along the way and with Jacob Holt still sidelined, Lash couldn’t be happier with the approach of his playing group.

They have been right within a chance late to win all three of the games they've lost, he can't fault anything about their attitude, commitment or effort, and that's why he's bewildered at any outside criticism.

"I think it's a credit to the players and a credit to our coaching staff, and the first barometer of a team is being locked in to what your staff is doing is how hard you are playing," Lash said.

"When we talk about that, that's what I'm most happy about and for people on the outside to question that, I just have a hard time with that.

"I've never been one that is going to listen to criticism from people I would never take advice from so for those opinions to fly our way, especially this early in the season, our doors are open if you want to come watch practice. Just call us.

"Everybody has a right to their opinion, I just don’t agree because if you're not there every day, how can you shape that. I just have a hard time with that."