Schueller identifies key improvement area

To see the turnaround of the Brisbane Bullets over the last two weeks, all you have to do is look at their box scores. They fell to South East Melbourne by 23 points just two weeks ago, and now they’ve won three on the bounce – including a dominant 16-point win over the same opposition.

The Bullets overcame the Phoenix by committee in Thursday night’s win, and had seven players register double-digit scoring in the clash – three of whom started the game on the bench.

Tyrell Harrison maintained his starting position despite the availability of Aron Baynes and took the fight to Alan Williams, while Foot Locker Player of the Game Josh Bannan continued to establish himself as one of the top young players in the competition.

Head coach Justin Schueller says while there was plenty to like in the win, there’s one obvious area of improvement for his side.

“What I love is I look at this box score and I see 50 points off the bench. That, to me, it what tonight was about – we got a real collective effort and I couldn’t be happier,” he said post-game.

“What I’m seeing in the group is just a growth in belief that when we do the right things and stick to our habits that things will go our way … having contribution and seven guys in double figures is really pleasing.

“It’s our highest score of the year, but we will always look at the defensive end and see 92 and feel we could have done better.”

South East Melbourne center Williams played just 19 minutes in the defeat due to foul trouble, as the entire clash featured excessive physicality on both ends of the floor.

The Phoenix’s stock of bigs was further depleted when Gorjok Gak went down with a calf injury after just three minutes on the floor, and the likes of Baynes, Bannan and Harrison went to work in the paint to make the most of the advantage.

Harrison has been a force for the Bullets over Baynes’ now completed five-game suspension, and continued his career-best run of form with 14 points and eight rebounds in just 16 minutes of action, as Schueller rapidly rotated his paint presence over the course of the match.

“I’ve always felt like (Tyrell's) health was the only thing stopping him from being great in this league,” Schueller said.

“His data when we were going through our recruitment period was jumping off the page. We knew what we were getting and what I love about him right now is his consistency is there.

“We’re not asking him to play 30 minutes, we just need him to be great in his time and trust we’ll be able to get him a rotation when it’s suitable. He’s done a great job through this stretch.”

Brisbane continues its Round 6 run on Saturday night when it takes on Tasmania at 5:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.