Bullets set sights: "Win and in"

Many people didn't give Brisbane a hope of making the Finals in NBL24, following the club’s total transformation from last season.

But with Justin Schueller at the helm of a new-look side, the Bullets expected nothing else. 

Brisbane’s Finals destiny is in its own hands ahead of the final round of the regular season, and the equation is simple. Win? You’re in. Lose? You pray.

If the Bullets manage to overcome New Zealand in what looms as an emotionally charged clash on Friday night, the club will return to the post-season for the first time in half a decade, but if they lose they’ll need South East Melbourne to defeat Sydney on Saturday night, thanks to the Kings’ superior percentage.

Head coach Justin Schueller says he’d have been more than happy with the current scenario if that’s what was offered to him ahead of the start of the season.

“We never took the challenge of this year in the hopes of making the Playoffs, we always spoke about expecting to and to be in a position now where we get to control that – if you’d told me that before the season I would have taken it every single time,” Schueller told SEN.

“There have been a lot of lessons throughout the year and some things that have helped us get to this point, and they’re the ones we’ll take into this one and its hostile environment, but a hostile environment we know we’ve already won in this year and that definitely gives us confidence going over there (in New Zealand).

“They just announced the retirement of Tom Abercrombie who’s a legend of that club so it’s a little bit more fuel for it, but at this stage of the year everyone’s playing for something at the moment.

“We know they’ve got one game extra up their sleeve, so they’ve got to bounce back after us and go across the seaboard to get the job done. For them it’s a little different to us and we know it’s win and in and we control our world, and they’ve got two in hand, so we’ll see what that does for their mindset.”

Any potential Bullets win over New Zealand will likely be powered by another good performance from star guard Nathan Sobey, who put Adelaide to the sword in Round 19 to bring a close to a two-game losing skid.

The Olympic bronze medalist scored a career-high 37 points en route to the 18-point win over Adelaide – and the feat was made all the more impressive by the fact he was scoreless to quarter time.

Schueller believes the way in which Brisbane and New Zealand match up will hold Sobey in stead for another big game. 

“We know we’ve definitely got some advantages in this game where we can set him up for success, similar to Adelaide,” Schueller said. “But we know everyone needs to contribute at this time of year.

“Our playoffs have already started, we’ve been talking about that for a while now and that you can’t win big games with any passengers. That’s been the pleasing thing, especially last week, to see everyone contribute in their own way and we’re going to definitely need that on Friday night.

“Our job was to get this club back to Playoff standard and getting towards championship success. That’s the exciting part right now, we’re on the doorstep of that and the ability to go and do it is something exciting for the club.”

Brisbane’s clash with New Zealand will be shown live on ESPN via Kayo, and Sky Sport in NZ on Friday at 5:30pm AEDT.