Duncan: Brisbane Plan Execution 'D-Minus'

Brisbane head coach James Duncan has given his side a ‘D-minus’ grade for their game against the Sydney Kings on Sunday night, with the loss relegating the Bullets to bottom of the ladder with a 0-4 start to the season.

 After leading by five points at quarter time Brisbane capitulated in the middle terms of the game and were outscored by 20 points across the second and third quarters.

Duncan blames to loss on his team’s inability to execute the game plan.

“They’re the defending champs for a reason and we did a poor, like D-minus, job of executing the game plan,” Duncan said post-game.

“[The plan is] everybody getting on the glass and rebounding the freaking ball. That’s just effort and desire … and there was a stretch where we didn’t have it.”

When asked about how his side can turn around their poor season-opening form, Duncan’s response was simple.

“Execute the game plan coaches are putting forth for a consistent amount of time. Done,” he said.

“I’m repeating myself a lot over the last few games and the guys have to understand that, yeah, we have 24 more games left, but we can’t say this throughout the course of the season.

“We need to execute, and everyone needs to be on point – and that’s from the top from our leaders down to our rookies as well.

A bright spark in the loss, much like he has been all season, was young gun DJ Mitchell.

The first-year Bullet top scored for his side with 20 points, and he pulled down 10 rebounds for good measure. He was also an active contributor on the defensive end and finished the game with two blocks.

He says he has no time to reflect on individual performances while the team isn’t winning.

“We lost. That’s all I saw,” he said.

“[I’m] frustrated, disappointed, all those words that fall into that category.

“You can live with the tough shots, the contested shots, but when we’re getting broken down and it’s falling into what the game plan was it just hurts a little bit more.

“We were on our heels after the first quarter, and they started hitting us.”

The Bullets have the chance to put up their first win of NBL23 on Monday, October 24 when they travel to Wollongong to take on the Illawarra Hawks.