Brisbane Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis is keeping the lid on expectations despite strong pre-season signs from the returning NBL franchise.
The Bullets posted a comfortable 79-56 victory over last season's beaten grand finalists the New Zealand Breakers on Thursday night in Napier.
It seals an unassailable 2-0 series win over the Breakers, the team Lemanis once steered to three-straight championships.
But despite being "pleasantly surprised" by the Bullets' progress, he's not getting carried away.
"No one has won the championship in the pre-season. We still enter October 0-0," Lemanis said.
"The whole point of pre-season is to play good teams and to get better.
"There are plenty of pleasing signs but there are also a lot of things we need to get better at."
Import Torrey Craig was named man of the match while Tom Jervis and Anthony Petrie were the joint top scorers on 15 points.
The Bullets were close to full strength but are still without marquee signing Cameron Bairstow, who dislocated his shoulder at the Rio Olympics.
The 206cm centre remains sidelined indefinitely and is no guarantee to be fit for the NBL season opener against the Perth Wildcats on October 6, a fixture expected to attract a crowd of 10,000 to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Lemanis has assembled an impressive squad with bookies installing Brisbane among the favourites to win the title, behind Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
The Bullets play their third and final match against the Breakers in Invercargill on Saturday, before returning home ahead of the Australian Basketball Challenge in Brisbane on September 23-26.
