Rebounding Perth a worry for Bullets
BRISBANE Bullets beware.
Perth are on the rebound from rare back-to-back losses and ready to make amends at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre tonight.
The second-placed Wildcats lost both top-of-the-table clashes to the New Zealand Breakers last week and the video review unearthed some home truths for the NBL champions, who are gunning for their third straight title.
Perth coach Trevor Gleeson said his side was out to right a few wrongs.
“We were pretty disappointed with last weekend,’’ he said.
‘‘Obviously New Zealand are up and about and they really hurt us when we took shortcuts.
“After reviewing the video, we felt that we let ourselves down.
“We asked ourselves, ‘Are we following the game plan and sticking to the team structures?’. The video showed up that we had got away from those things.
“We’ve had a great week of practice and we hope that will now transfer to the game.’’
The Wildcats (5-3) beat Brisbane (3-4) by 10 points at the Perth Arena in Round 1 when import Bryce Cotton set up the victory in the first half on the way to 24 points while Bullets star Travis Trice had 23 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Gleeson, a former Bullets assistant coach and Townsville head coach, said Perth had the utmost respect for Brisbane, especially their import backcourt.
“They’ve got scorers in Trice and (Stephen) Holt,’’ he said. “They are a little bit different to most teams.’’
Buoyed by their win over Cairns in the “Sunshine Stoush’’ on Sunday, sixthplaced Brisbane have had an intense week on the training court.
The Bullets are set to be without guard Adam Gibson (calf) for the third straight week.
The Wildcats were last on the ladder in the second half of last season before storming into the top four and collecting the club’s eighth title.
Gleeson, who has coached Perth to three titles, said this season was shaping up to be just as much of a rollercoaster with ladder positions counting for little, especially this early in the campaign.
WE’VE HAD A GREAT WEEK OF PRACTICE AND WE HOPE THAT WILL NOW TRANSFER TO THE GAME PERTH’S TREVOR GLEESON