Schueller shaping Bullets' new identity

Saturday, October 7, 2023

Justin Schueller has praised his team's ability to step up in a hostile away environment following Thursday's win.

Brisbane has started the NBL24 season with a bang, and head coach Justin Schueller has displayed his pride in his group for entering an intimidating atmosphere at Spark Arena and emerging with a win.

A late Chris Smith three helped the Bullets overcome the Breakers in what was one of the best games of the season so far, and has seen last season’s ninth-placed team open its campaign with a pair of convincing victories.

“We spoke about not many teams would be able to get wins in this building, and to have a playoff mindset already – they’re the lessons and the growth we need as a group to put ourselves in those moments,” Schueller said post-game.

“Mody does a great job with his group and we knew they were going to organised and what they were going to be able to attack us in, and we had to be good at countering.

“I thought there were so many times through the game where we had to try and find a different matchup or foul trouble, but we stayed the course and were able to push forward. To be able to do it in this building feels good.”

After the Breakers shot 12-28 from three in their opening round win against Cairns, the Bullets managed to hold Mody Maor’s men to just eight made triples for the game on Thursday night.

As a result New Zealand’s shooting percentage was eight per cent lower than its Round 1 victory, which was enough to see the Bullets scrape home with a five-point win.

Schuller says despite the solid defensive performance, he’s still targeting extensive improvement from his side on that end of the floor.

“We definitely want to have a defensive identity,” Schueller said. “Holding a team like that to 84 – we knew the three-point line was going to be important for them … so to keep them under 10 makes was a focus area.

“They’ve [the Breakers] got guys who are coming downhill at you all day and they really tested our coverages. To be honest we weren’t great, but getting stops creates our run.

“That’s the beauty of how we’ve been able to play in these first two, is we string enough stops together to keep the pressure going the other way.

“A lot of work for us, a lot of growth to go, but to be in the position we are now after two, I’m very happy.”

Brisbane next face Queensland rivals Cairns on Saturday at 8pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.