Preview: NBL25 R17 Away v Illawarra Hawks

It doesn’t get any easier for the Brisbane Bullets on the road to the NBL leading Illawarra Hawks on Monday but coach Justin Schueller and captain Mitch Norton see no reason they can't come away victorious.

The games have been coming thick and fast over the past six weeks for the Bullets and the injury toll has been mounting which included the absence of Tyrell Harrison, Rocco Zikarsky and Deng Adel for two home games last week inside 48 hours.

The end result was losses to the Perth Wildcats and Cairns Taipans with the Bullets already battling with season-ending injuries to James Batemon, Sam McDaniel and Jarred Bairstow, and then those holding down the fort battling niggles too.

Despite all of that, the Bullets are still in contention for a top six position currently sitting with a 10-14 record but not far behind the sixth placed Tasmania JackJumpers (12-13).

With five games still remaining in the season, a return to form for the Bullets starting Monday night could still see them finish in the top six and be part of the Play-In Tournament.

That’s a significant challenge, though, with the Hawks fully healthy and now sitting clear in top spot following their own 22-point hammering at the WIN Entertainment Centre over Melbourne United on Saturday night.

While the Bullets played just one game in each of the eight rounds of the season, that's sure changed in recent times with 13 games from December 6 up until Friday night's game in Brisbane against the Taipans.

When you factor that into the fact that the Bullets have had an injury list that's been significant all season and has only been growing through that period, and it's no coincidence that it's led to six losses in the past seven games.

Factor in that the Bullets have been trying to blend in new faces Emmett Naar and Josh Adams while unable to practice, and others are having to play new roles with the injuries and without working on it.

Schueller is seeing some reasons for what's happening on the floor.

"One of the challenges is that we just haven’t had practice time," Schueller said.

"We wanted games thick and fast there when we were playing one a week, but now Josh Adams hasn’t practiced with us and we haven’t had enough bodies to go.

"What I've seen in our sloppiness is just not being able to get those reps on the practice court. The reality is we won't get that before Illawarra as well so we have to find a way to get that done through film and making sure we understand what the details are that we need."

Schueller would never question the heart and efforts of his playing group, but there were times that during Wednesday and Friday's losses to Perth and Cairns where the players available just simply looked as though they had nothing left to give.

Playing three games in less than a week and with the horrific injury toll that can be explained, but Schueller still wants a bare minimum of 100 per cent effort come Monday night against the Hawks.

"My concern has been if it gets too hard for us and our challenge right now is to shake that off, and not allow the next one to be too hard," Schueller said.

"I think getting on the road when this sort of stuff goes on is a good thing for a group. We're looking forward to recovery, we get a couple more days rest than what we had for this turnaround and I think that will be good for the group.

"Then we go into every game preparing the same way and expecting to win, and this one won't be any different."

Having spent two seasons playing for the Hawks himself, Bullets captain Mitch Norton knows all about eventful happenings that can take place in Illawarra so he sees no reason Brisbane can't go in and get the Monday night win.

"I believe in this squad and as long as we stick to our home base, continue to move the ball, play defence, rebound and run then we're going to have some fun," Norton said.

"There's always something wild that happens in Illawarra I believe so we're just going to come out to play good, strong Bullets basketball and do our best for sure."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Illawarra Hawks

Tip off: 6:30pm (AEST), Monday 20 January, 2025

Where: WIN Entertainment Centre

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo