Bullets reloaded: A next man up mentality

Casey Prather stepped up when Josh Bannan got hurt, then Isaac White did the same in the absence of James Batemon on Christmas Eve, and it's that no excuses mentality that has the Brisbane Bullets among the NBL's hottest teams.

The Bullets are yet to be at full strength in NBL25, with championship winning pair Sam McDaniel and Jarred Bairstow suffering season-ending surgeries, Deng Adel and Bannan spending significant time out and 51-point hero James Batemon in a race against time to get back from a hamstring injury. Yet, they keep getting it done. 

Brisbane heads into Christmas fresh off a 21-point win in Adelaide, which gives them five wins in their past six matches, to be sitting in fourth position with a 9-8 record.

Who would have tipped that at the start of the season?

Once again, what stood out was someone stepping into an injured player's shoes, with White earning the first start of his 127-game NBL career, racking up 18 points in the first 12 minutes and 22 for the game.

He filled the role of Batemon perfectly, just as Prather has thrived when playing in the starting power forward spot while Bannan was out injured, and coach Justin Schueller can't help but marvel at the resilience of his group.

"Through negative things that have happened to us this year with injuries, we've been able to find a lot of positives," Schueller said.

"Whitey was that positive tonight, Casey was when Banno when out and he gave us that advantage to play him in that position, and now he's really rolling. I couldn’t be prouder of how he (Prather) goes about it and who he's being for us."

Throughout his entire career Prather has always thrived on his explosiveness and athleticism, and has always seen himself as a three man, including as part of two championships at the Perth Wildcats and another with Melbourne United.

But he's stepped into a new role with incredible enthusiasm.

"I wouldn’t say it was tough to get him (Prather) to buy into playing the four, it was just about him understanding the advantages he can have," Schueller said.

"For Casey to believe in what we asked him to do and come back a little earlier to do the work, he's getting the reward for that and it's so good to see. I also think his best is still coming, because there's some things there we are asking of him and he continues to work on his craft."

Not only have the Bullets won five of their past six matches, but in each of those wins they have scored in triple-figures and averaged 111.6 points.

In those five wins, Prather is averaging 29.4 points, Keandre Cook 24.4, and Tyrell Harrison 18.6, to go with 11 rebounds.

"I think for the last month we've really understood where our advantages can be on the floor at the offensive end," Schueller said.

"Our scoring rate probably shows that and the reason we brought Whitey into that spot was so we could continue to play the way that we have been.

"Banno coming in off the bench has been a real luxury, it's felt like too, to come in and have an impact too. Everyone understands how we need to play and when we share the ball we're tough to guard as a team.

"The way we shared the ball again, found the kick-outs and saw our advantages was something we did a good job of from start to end."

Brisbane faces another huge test when it takes on ladder-leaders Illawarra on Friday night at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, with tip-off from 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.