Round 5 Preview v Brisbane Bullets

After enjoying the comforts of home for the opening seven games of the 2021 NBL season, the Adelaide 36ers hit the road on Saturday night to take on the Brisbane Bullets at Nissan Arena.

The Sixers have played their first seven matches at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and enjoyed a strong home crowd presence with the Adelaide fans turning out in bigger numbers over the opening four rounds of the season in greater numbers than anywhere else in the country.

The result of the home stand for the 36ers was four wins and three losses, and a mixed bag for the most part of consistency and performance but that should hardly be surprising given the new coaching staff, amount of new players and given the schedule and preparation for this season.

While the 36ers did play their first six games over the first three rounds in the space 16 days, the past two weeks have seen them receive a full week of preparation firstly to host the Sydney Kings last Saturday, and now to travel to Brisbane this Saturday.

The game against the Kings last Saturday night at home didn’t go to plan with a 19-point defeat but prior to that the 36ers had been on a three-game winning streak so they will be hoping the week off in between games will help them now get back to that winning form.

Now the challenge for the Sixers is to deal with playing the first road game of the season after travelling to Brisbane on Friday ahead of taking on the Bullets on Saturday night.

The Bullets present an interesting opposition as well. So far they have played all of their games at home as well just like the 36ers and they've won two of those five matches, but their best basketball led by Vic Law and Nathan Sobey has been impressive.

The Bullets and 36ers have both already played Sydney twice on their home floor this season for a win and loss each while they've also hosted Melbourne United once each and lost to the undefeated outfit.

Both teams come into Saturday night's encounter on the back of heavy losses too with the Sixers having lost last Saturday to the Kings by 19 points while the Bullets lost at home to United by 13 points last Friday evening.

Another fascinating aspect of this game on Saturday night is just how many former Adelaide players are in the Brisbane line-up for this season on the back of Harry Froling and Anthony Drmic joining the Bullets in free agency this off-season after being at the 36ers in recent seasons.

Froling and Drmic join fellow former Sixers players Jason Cadee, Matt Hodgson and Nathan Sobey in Brisbane. In fact there could be times when every player on the floor for the Bullets are former 36ers players with Cadee and Sobey in the back court, Drmic as the wing and Froling and Hodgson up front.

All up, the five players combined for 440 appearances with the 36ers with Sobey played 120 games, Drmic 114, Hodgson 89, Cadee 61 and Froling 56.

One of those players won't be there on Saturday night, though, with the Bullets ruling out Hodgson through injury for the game. That gives the chance for Adelaide's Isaac Humphries and Daniel Johnson to potentially take advantage of his absence.

The pair have already combined to average 37.7 points and 14.0 rebounds a game this season.

The 36ers made the decision this week to part ways with import guard Donald Sloan. Former Bullet Jeremy Kendle has been signed as an injury replacement but he won't play for the Sixers on Saturday.

But co-captain Daniel Dillon will return from a hand injury having missed the past three games.

2020/21 Hungry Jack's NBL Season – Round 5

Adelaide 36ers v Brisbane Bullets
Nissan Arena, Brisbane, Saturday 7.30pm ACDT

Broadcast – ESPN, SBS on Demand, NBL TV, Twitch