Thirty-one points and six three-pointers would headline most nights. For Brisbane coach Will Weaver, Max Mackinnon’s 12 rebounds were the real story.<\/p>\n
Doing whatever it takes to win is exactly what the rookie sensation is focused on too.<\/p>\n
Mackinnon grew up watching the Bullets at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. He even celebrated a birthday watching his now-captain Mitch Norton play for the Perth Wildcats.<\/p>\n
Friday night was his first chance to play there himself, and it’s a moment he’ll never forget.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old played five games as a development player with the Bullets before college stints at Elon University, the University of Portland and, finally, Louisiana State University.<\/p>\n
Back with his hometown team for NBL27, he produced a match-winning display against the Illawarra Hawks, shooting 6\/8 from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n
Doing it at home made it even sweeter.<\/p>\n
“It’s special for sure having my high school mates there and going up to them after the game is pretty cool,” Mackinnon said. “Just being where my feet are is something that I’m grateful for having this opportunity here and I’m not going to waste it.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Weaver will take the scoring, but it was Mackinnon’s defensive effort and work on the boards that stood out.<\/p>\n
“Rebounding, there’s just not a lot of humans on earth that can bring that approach to the boards and we had our hands full because Illawarra is a good basketball team despite being 0-2 with a lot of weapons,” Weaver said.<\/p>\n
“So it took sometimes three, four guys to box out [Davo] Hickey and [Johny] Narkle and Sam [Froling], and those guys, and Max came in screaming and got the rebounds, and that helped us create some pace out of those situations which really helps us.”<\/p>\n
The Bullets led all night, by as much as 18 points, before Kelan Martin’s corner three with 2:30 to play cut the margin to one.<\/p>\n
Mackinnon answered with his sixth triple of the night with 90 seconds left, and Nate Hinton’s dagger three with 43 seconds remaining sealed a 103-95 win.<\/p>\n
Arnas Veli\u010dka backed up his debut with 17 points and 11 assists, while Hinton finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.<\/p>\n
Now 2-0, the Bullets hit the road for the first time this season to face the Sydney Kings on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n