'Where's the emotion?': Pressure mounts on Bullets

One NBL legend has concerns that Brisbane's Hungry Jack's NBL season is slipping away fast, after a lacklustre 1-4 start.

After defeating New Zealand in Round 1, the Bullets have dropped four straight games against Cairns, Adelaide, Tasmania and most recently Illawarra, where they fell behind 22-2 in the first quarter.

Tied in with all that is the fact they've been ravaged by injuries, with Mitch Norton, Sam McDaniel and Casey Prather all missing time, while import guard Javon Freemon-Liberty was recently granted a release.

On Tuesday's episode of NBL Now, three-time NBL champion Chris Anstey said the pressure is starting to mount on Stu Lash's side.

"A lot of eyes will be on Brisbane this week, to see if they can respond," Anstey said.

"You talk about culture and I'm not sure they know what their culture is yet. I'm sure they'd like it to be a particular thing, but we haven't seen it yet.

"I'm interested to see what they look like [against Melbourne United] and there is growing pressure on Brisbane to understand if they can be competitive this year.

"They put together a team on paper that should be competitive, it hasn't proven to be yet.

"I'll be watching with interest to see if they've prepared with the type of emotion required to win a game."

Brisbane's home Round 5 clash with United tips off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.