Schueller lauds heart and spirit shown by Bullets

It was make or break time for the Brisbane Bullets with a challenging Round 5 double-header but to come away with a road win over the Perth Wildcats and home victory against the Tasmania JackJumpers showed the heart and spirit within the group.

For Hostplus Brisbane Bullets Head Coach Justin Schueller, he knew that there was plenty on the line ahead of heading to Perth on Friday night and then to return to Nissan Arena on Sunday to host Tasmania.

The Bullets were on the back of a four-game losing streak after winning the opening two matches of the season and to top it off were missing two of their key players, Aron Baynes and Shannon Scott.

It would have been easy for a group of lesser character to use those excuses because there was plenty of them to fall back on. However, the culture that's beginning to build in Schueller's first season in charge couldn’t have been more evident than in the two victories.

The Bullets played an outstanding team game on Friday to beat the Wildcats in Perth and then backed it up on Sunday to beat a strong JackJumpers outfit. Nathan Sobey might have top-scored with 28 points, but everyone else on the team made strong contributions.

That was the most pleasing part for Schueller, to see his entire group show their commitment to what they are trying to do as a team and to come away with the two statement victories against the odds.

"The thing that I love is that you drop four in-a-row and that's a real defining moment for a ball club I think in that can you just stay the course and believe in the stuff you're doing, and understand if you continue to have those habits things will go our way," Schueller said.

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"We've dealt with everything so far this season and I'm hoping that things get a little easier as we go, but we know they won't, and that's what this group embraces. I'm just super proud of staying the course in that patch and now putting ourselves in positions to be able to go and have success.

"We enjoyed that win, we know Tassie's a great club and we turnaround quick to play them again, but it was about this weekend for us. That Perth to home double, we've got that one again later in the year so to be able to come away with two wins, I couldn’t be happier."

At no point all season have they been at full strength with Josh Bannan missing the first five games along with DJ Mitchell missing one, Shannon Scott missing the last two and now Aron Baynes having been out for the past five.

While ideally you want everything to go to plan in any given season, the adversity the Bullets have had to deal with in NBL24 and now show the heart they did to beat the Wildcats and JackJumpers is a tremendous sign moving forward for Schueller.

"This whole period we've been dealing with stuff so I think those lessons we've had along the way have allowed us to find some consistency," he said.

"Isaac was huge in his moments, I thought DJ came in and was able to have an impact, and even Rocco in his little stint.

"They were trying to go small and it was messing with him a little bit, but just the consistency we were able to get off the bench I couldn’t be happier with the contributions we got across the floor."

So many players stepped up in both games over the weekend and on Sunday in the home win against the JackJumpers that included Isaac White coming in for 10 points and three assists to be especially important with Sobey in early foul trouble.

The efforts of big men Tyrell Harrison (10 points, six rebounds, three blocks) and Bannan (10 points, 10 rebounds) were terrific too, but one player who was super influential across the weekend was Sam McDaniel.

Coming up against his former JackJumpers team for the first time, he took on the defensive assignment on Milton Doyle holding him to seven points on 3/10 shooting a little over 36 hours after restricting Perth's Bryce Cotton to 10 points on 3/19 shooting.

He also scored 15 points across the two games and Schueller can't speak more highly of what he has brought to the Bullets so far this season.

"I'm big on our actions doing the talking for us and I think that's what Sammy does as well as anyone," Schueller said.

"When I got the job having been with him at Melbourne and knowing what he did in that year to help win a championship, he was a key piece to come into this club and help change who we are.

"It's been in my mind all season about if we start him or not and I've probably come to him four different times to be ready for it, but this weekend he's just solidifying how big an impact he can have.

"The understated part is also at the offensive end and I'm seeing him play free and backing himself, which is what we want from hm. I couldn’t be happier having him at the club."

It's a quick turnaround for two more challenging match ups for the Bullets in Indigenous Round of the NBL starting at home on Thursday night to the South East Melbourne Phoenix before heading to Launceston for a return clash with the JackJumpers.

The bonus is that Baynes will be available to return and for Schueller, it's a great bonus to add him back with the group having learned to win without him rather than needing to look at him as a saviour.

"He'll be chomping at the bit and what we're excited about is that through these lessons we've had we can now add a piece like him," Schueller said.

"It's exciting to get him back and it's a pretty quick to turn around for South East now on Thursday, but it's really good to be able to integrate him in for that one.

"We felt like we were in a reasonable spot in that last game (against South East Melbourne and Alan Williams) when Tyrell got his third foul and they were able to kind of beat up on Rocco a little bit for a patch.

"Now to go back to having the three-headed monster is definitely going to help us. The other part is that we've learnt how to play and survive without Baynesy so to now be able to add a piece like that back now in a ball game where they are really rolling, and playing some great basketball, it's going to be a red hot contest for sure."