Hungry Jack's NBL
Harrison, Adel shine in Bullets' win
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By Chris Pike for NBL.com.au
Deng Adel made an immediate impact in his first appearance in Brisbane Bullets colours, Tyrell Harrison showed his continued growth and the signs were largely positive in a 94-75 NBL pre-season win against the Shanghai Sharks.
The Sharks were playing their second game against an NBL opponent on this road trip down under after taking on the Illawarra Hawks back on Saturday night where they lost to 13 points in Wollongong.
The Bullets were making their first appearance of this pre-season and ahead of their return to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for NBL25, Friday night provided the chance for their fans to cheer on their team at Nissan Arena one last time.
They turned out in good numbers too and would have been encouraged by what they saw both from familiar faces Harrison, Mitch Norton and Casey Prather, and new arrivals Adel, Keandre Cook, James Batemon and Tohi Smith-Milner.
It was a hot start from the Bullets as they piled on 31 points in the opening quarter and then would lead by as much as 21 points on the way to the 52-36 lead at the half-time break.
Adel was a big part in that with 15 points and five assists in the opening half on 6/7 shooting while as a team Brisbane shot 60 per cent from the field.
Shanghai did make a couple of runs in the second half too which is a challenge Brisbane would have wanted, although a timeout from coach Justin Schueller less than two minutes into the second half wasn’t quite what he was after.
Brisbane did enough through the second half to secure the eventual 19-point victory on the back of still shooting 52 per cent for the game while going 11/28 from three-point range but giving up 17 offensive rebounds for 15 second chance points isn’t something Schueller would have liked.
Deng Adel was without doubt a shining light even if he didn’t score in the second half and only took two more field goals.
He still finished with 15 points and six assists as he returns to the NBL after splitting his time between Canada, Denmark, Bulgaria, France and the G-League since his season at the Hawks in NBL21.
Tyrell Harrison could well become a dominant force in NBL25. He was already rock solid last season for Brisbane, had a standout NBL1 North season at the Southern Districts Spartans, and started his pre-season with 18 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks on 8/9 shooting.
Mitch Norton played with him in the off-season at the Spartans and the new Bullets captain had 15 points and three rebounds.
New import pair Keandre Cook (13 points, two assists) and James Batemon (12 points, two steals) showed enough good signs too while Casey Prather moved well in 18 minutes for seven points and two rebounds.
Tohi Smith-Milner added eight points, six rebounds and four assists for Brisbane, Rocco Zikarsky three points and three boards, and Josh Bannan three points, four rebounds and two assists.
The Bullets now hit the road to continue their pre-season taking on Melbourne United on Tuesday and the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday.
HUNGRY JACK'S NBL PRE-SEASON
BRISBANE BULLETS 94 (Harrison 18, Norton 15, Adel 15)
SHANGHAI SHARKS 75 (Liu 21, Wang 14, Days 14)
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