Bullets hopeful on import to line up
BULLETS coach Andrej Lemanis is confident key import Perrin Buford will overcome an ankle injury to play in Brisbane’s crucial NBL road clash against the Illawarra Hawks tomorrow.
Buford hurt his right ankle at training on Thursday and was on crutches yesterday as his Bullets teammates went through their paces at the Brisbane Convention Centre after their regular training court at Carina was deemed too slippery.
Lemanis was relaxed about Buford’s fitness.
“At this stage I’m planning on Perrin playing,” he said.
“The initial report from the physio was that he’d be OK. The crutches are just there to take the weight off the ankle. He just needs to get some time off it.”
If Buford doesn’t play, Lemanis said Stephen Holt, Reuben Te Rangi, Matt Kenyon and Tom Fullarton were
THE CRUTCHES ARE JUST THERE TO TAKE THE WEIGHT OFF THE ANKLE. HE JUST NEEDS TO GET SOME TIME OFF IT
BULLETS COACH ANDREJ LEMANIS
all in contention to start.
“We’ll cross that bridge when it’s put in front of us,” he said.
The Bullets, who have won just seven of their 17 matches this season, are keen to bounce back tomorrow after successive losses to the Sydney Kings and Melbourne United.
In both matches Brisbane were in winning positions before succumbing to their fastfinishing rivals.
“The thing is we’re still playing well,” Lemanis said.
“It’s a close league, it’s a good league (and) teams are going to make runs. We need to find our way when we’re able to build leads to maintain our momentum and perhaps grind it out.
“Perhaps we get a little loose at times.”
Lemanis said his players had responded well at training rather than drop their heads after twin losses.
“With those couple of close losses you can feel some frustration at times and that can affect the way you go about your business, but I think there’s still really good chemistry in the group, good belief in the group.”