R15 Preview: Perth Wildcats v Brisbane Bullets

When: 9.30pm (AEST), Friday 23 April 

Where: RAC Arena, Perth

Broadcast: ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
Brisbane 95 (Sobey 31, Law 23, Johnson 13) d Perth 92 (Cotton 29, Blanchfield 20, Mooney 20) – NBL Cup Week 3, John Cain Arena, Melbourne

This was now quite a while ago with the last meeting between Brisbane and Perth coming partway through the NBL Cup in Melbourne more than six weeks ago, but it was quite the memorable contest all the same. The Bullets ended up handing the Wildcats their first defeat at the NBL Cup in what remains the only time they have clashed in #NBL21.

Aside from a couple of brief patches in the second half with Bryce Cotton and John Mooney warming up for Perth, it was Brisbane on top most of the way and it was Nathan Sobey who ended up closing the door shut to close his big night. Sobey ending up with 31 points and four assists while hitting 4/7 from three-point land.

Sobey opened the game on fire with 11 first quarter points before picking up again with Brisbane's first seven points of the second half. He went on to score 12 points in the third quarter alone and then nailed a go-ahead triple with three minutes to go, which from there the Bullets never again trailed and went on to hand the Wildcats their first NBL Cup defeat by three points.

He got good support too with Vic Law delivering 23 points and six rebounds and Orlando Johnson 13 points, five boards and three assists with Matt Hodgson contributing eight points and nine rebounds, and Anthony Drmic nine points.

Despite all that, the Wildcats still almost pinched it for their fifth straight NBL Cup win. Todd Blanchfield had 14 of his 20 points in the first half before Bryce Cotton warmed to his task nicely with 20 of his 29 points in the second half to go with four assists. John Mooney added another 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals while Mitch Norton had nine points and six rebounds.

The now

Both the Wildcats and Bullets are coming into Friday night's clash at RAC Arena looking to bounce back from losses to the New Zealand Breakers.

The Wildcats fell to the Breakers back on Sunday afternoon in The Jungle 83-78 despite 22 points from John Mooney, 19 from Todd Blanchfield and just the 12 points on 4/17 shooting from superstar Bryce Cotton. That was in front of more than 11,000 screaming Red Army fans who will be determined to see them bounce back this Friday.

Meanwhile, it will have been a full seven days by tip-off since the Bullets returned home from Launceston after last Friday's disappointing performance to end up losing to the Breakers 91-71 at the Silverdome.

The Bullets just didn’t get enough from enough players with Matt Hodgson scoring 16 points, Nathan Sobey 15, Lamar Patterson nine, Tamuri Wigness eight and Anthony Drmic. They shot just 17 per cent as a team from three-point range, got to the foul line only 11 times and coughed up 16 turnovers which usually are not recipes for success.

Those last up losses make Friday night's game a crucial one for both teams to start their ANZAC Day Weekends.

The Wildcats have dropped to second position on the ladder with a 17-6 record and they need to keep winning to maintain pace with the league-leading Melbourne United (18-5).

Meanwhile, the Bullets can't afford to keep losing or they will lose further touch with the top four. Brisbane comes into Friday night's game with a 10-12 record in sixth position and that has them three wins behind both the third placed Sydney Kings and fourth placed South East Melbourne Phoenix.

The key men

Bryce Cotton – He has sure shown an enjoyment for playing against the Brisbane Bullets during his NBL career to date, especially hitting game-winners and breaking the hearts of his Southern Queensland rivals. But he doesn’t quite come into this game on Friday night with the ominous and imposing form he usually does. It would still be a brave soul to claim he isn’t streets ahead in MVP voting in #NBL21, but over the past six matches, he has only shot 37/116 from the field, 11/53 from three-point range and scored a total of 119 points. Those averages of 31.9 per cent from the floor, 20.8 per cent from three-point land and 19.8 points on average aren’t Bryce Cotton numbers. But that also spells danger for the Bullets on Friday night.

Nathan Sobey – If anyone is in the discussion to challenge Bryce Cotton for MVP honours this season in the NBL then it would be him. His one performance so far this season against the Perth Wildcats was a dominant, winning performance and he will come out hungry to do something similar on Friday night. He will be as determined as anyone in Brisbane colours to keep his team in the finals hunt this season too and he know he can have a big say in that single-handedly if he puts on a show and helps lead the Bullets to a win in hostile territory on Friday.

The quotes

Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson recognised his team lost on Sunday on the back of having played a hectic schedule, but wasn’t about to make excuses following the loss to an impressive Breakers outfit.

"It’s like an NBA schedule, we’re in four different states in 11 days, but we’re not using that, New Zealand’s been on the road for four months. They were in Tassie on Friday night, flew here yesterday and outworked us on the glass," Gleeson said.

"I’m not going to sit here and cry and blame the referees or blame fatigue or anything like that. New Zealand played better than us, they executed better than us and they worked harder than us, and they got the win.

"It’s about execution. We gave up an offensive rebound from the foul line, and down the stretch we were five down, we got a good steal, Norto got the intentional foul, made two foul shots, but we didn’t execute the last play as we hoped. That’s what it comes down to, when it’s a possession game, you try to get execution, if you don’t get execution, you don’t get a good shot and we turned the ball over at a crucial time.

"When you’re looking down the track and you’re building, and hopefully we make the playoffs, the playoff schedules are rough. The physicality, the pressure is all tough. And that is a similar situation to when you’re tired. Can you get through and do the things you need to do to win the game, when you’re under duress? This season we’ve done really well and that’s something we’ve got to continue to build on."

Looking at taking on the Bullets for just the second time now this season and for the first time outside the NBL Cup, while there are other players he'll focus on, trying to stop Nathan Sobey is a big key for the Wildcats.

"He’s been sensational, he has the ball in his hands and he’s quick, he can shoot the three, he’s the second leading scorer for the NBL, so he will be a handful without a question," Gleeson said.

"They’ve been hit with injuries, made some changes with new imports, Patterson coming in, so there’s a little bit of change happening, so we’re just worried about ourselves. If we play the right way, play the level we need to play at, we’re confident that we’ll get a win against anybody."

Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis is fully aware of the way the season is positioned now for Brisbane. They've copped a rough run in terms of personnel and that's only going to leave them short of full strength coming into Perth, but they are still in the playoff hunt and he just wants to see his team continue to fight for everything they earn from now on.

"We're in a dogfight. We've got 14 games left and every game is what it is. I'm not sure what that means other than you do what you do, you come out prepared to play the games, you pay attention to the detail, you look after yourself physically and mentally and approach each day at a time. Then when the games are there you come ready to go," Lemanis said.

"I've been around this thing a long time, I'm not sure there is a secret formula other than that. If we suddenly can just decide to go and win some games now, then maybe we should have been doing that already. I'm not sure that's the way it actually works. You have to stay focused on the day to day, and then just come out and give it the effort both physically and mentally coming into every game.

"It's going to be a dogfight and we're in that war now. That's the way the season has played out for us. We need to get in the trenches and have a crack."

It was tough for the Bullets to draw too many positives out of the 20-point loss in Tasmania to the Breakers last Friday night, but Lemanis continues to be impressed with the development of emerging point guard Tamuri Wigness.

"I thought Tamuri was one of the most pleasing aspects of a tough game for us, coming in and changing the tempo for us," Wigness said. 

"He was able to get some heat on the ball, get around the screens and still be able to stay in front of the ball and he got to the rim and made some stuff happen. He was plus-six on a night where we lost by 20 so that was good and on the back of the last few games, we've seen Tamuri's continued improvement and positive impact on the game which has been pleasing."