Playing for D-Mac: The shift fuelling Brisbane’s belief

The Brisbane Bullets face another daunting test on Tuesday night as they attempt to slow down the hottest team in the league, the Sydney Kings.

Despite coming off a loss to Melbourne United, there has been a clear shift in the Bullets’ energy and intent, with their renewed play style offering genuine signs of momentum. According to Chris Anstey, the reason behind it is simple.

“I think they’re playing for Darryl McDonald,” Anstey said on NBL Now.

“They’re competing and that’s the one thing D-Mac will demand. It’s not so much about what they see on video or on the film, it’s about how hard they play and how they execute.”

The Bullets returned to the winners' list last round with a dominant performance over the Breakers, and Anstey believes the answers are not as complicated as they may seem.

“They’re competing – and we live in an age of analytics and statistics,” he said.

“I loved Brian Goorjian’s press conference a couple of weeks ago at the start of this the Sydney Kings form, he said he’d been caught up on the computer too much and he’d forgotten to spend time around the group.

“The way players play for you, is for you to be around the group and engage in them as human beings.

“Keep the system simple but execute as hard as possible eery time and I think we’ve seen a much-improved level of consistency of efforts across the three games D-Mac’s been in charge.”

While the Bullets’ front office has been open about the search for their next head coach, Anstey says he has seen enough from his former teammate to believe he deserves a chance.

“What I would love as someone’s who’s played and won championship with D-Mac, I’ve coached with D-Mac … he’s never really had an extended shot,” he said.

“I’d love to see him get the opportunity.”