Defence fueling offence as key piece nears return

Wednesday night saw us register our third victory of the season by over 30 points, with Head Coach Dean Vickerman pointing to a strong focus on defence and rebounding as major contributing factors.

In front of an energetic crowd in Bendigo, we demolished the Brisbane Bullets by 32 points, winning every quarter and almost every major statistical category.

Speaking after the game, Vickerman explained how the team was able to produce such a well-rounded performance.

“I thought the intensity that we played (with), the hand pressure that we had, the full court defence, the way we moved people around and had people contributing was what we wanted tonight and we saw that,” he said.

“We talked about it before the game and you can play faster when you get stops and you rebound well.

“That’s our focus right now. If we can get that part of our game at a really high level, we have the opportunities to get out and find more pace in the game. Taking care of the glass is something we want to continue to improve at.”

It looks as though there is potential that our next game, a Sunday afternoon road battle with the Perth Wildcats from 4:30pm, could be the final game of this recent stretch without one of the team’s most important defensive pieces, Shea Ili.

Vickerman provided an update on how the two-time NBL Best Defensive Player winner is tracking. 

“He had a great practice the other day… We’re targeting the New Zealand game (on 30 January),” he continued.

“He had a nice little dunk the other day to start the practice, but he’s got some work to do. We want to get him in full scrimmage mode and get him up and down.

“He’s not going to come back and play 25 minutes, it’s going to be less than that but the relief that that can give Tyson and how much harder Tyson can play (will be good).

“Milt can go back to his true position a little bit more even though we’ve liked the ball in his hands as a kind of back up point guard.

“We know he (Ili) in our roster just makes us a better team and we saw that at practice the other day.”