Adams almost delivers scintillating fightback

The Brisbane Bullets went ever so close to completely a stunning double on opposite sides of the country in three days when Jaylen Adams fired up in a scorching fourth quarter before Melbourne United held on to win 95-86.

The Bullets were back home at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for just the second time this season on the back of a brilliant win in Perth on Wednesday, but it was a fresh and unbeaten league-leading United waiting for them.

Melbourne did manage to open up a 15-point lead by quarter-time which was 18 at half-time and then was out to 20 with 6:35 to go in the game, but then Adams fired up like few players can.

The former NBL MVP inspired Brisbane to an 18-1 run following a timeout of which he scored 15 of those points. The Bullets closed to within three before Milton Doyle closed the door on them and Melbourne held them out for the nine-point victory.

Adams hit just his third three-pointer of the season early in the third quarter and then delivered 20 points in the fourth quarter alone on his way to 29 points along with five assists, three rebounds and two blocks on 10/15 shooting from the floor and 4/6 from downtown.

Casey Prather continued his scintillating form with another 26 points, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists on 9/18 shooting while Tyrell Harrison also had 16 points, 11 boards, three blocked shots and three assists.

Lamar Patterson also ended up with seven points, five rebounds and three assists, Tristan Devers six points, two blocks and two steals, and Tohi Smith-Milner two points, four rebounds and two steals.

United improved to 6-0 on the season with the win with Chris Goulding finishing with 22 points, Milton Doyle 17 and Tanner Krebs 16 while Tyson Walker had eight steals and six assists despite just five points on 1/10 shooting.

Melbourne did make a dominant start on the road racing out to a 10-1 lead before Brisbane responded with a couple of buckets to Casey Prather.

United remained on top with Krebs knocking down a second three ball and Tom Koppens hitting another for United to be leading 31-16 by the end of one.

Melbourne scored the first five points of the second quarter too but the Bullets answered with 12 of the next 15 points to close a 19-point deficit to just 11.

However, Chris Goulding landed three triples leading into half-time to overtake John Rillie as third on the all-time list for 15 points in the half and Melbourne remained in control leading 55-37.

Jaylen Adams did make his third three-pointer of the season to open the second half for Brisbane, and the Bullets did manage to get back within nine, but by three quarter-time Melbourne were back in control leading by 16.

That Melbourne advantage was back to 20 with 6:35 remaining but coming out of a Bullets timeout, the home team scoring the next 12 points including the last 10 of those coming from Adams in his best outing of NBL26.

Suddenly Adams scored again with just under three minutes to play and it was back to a six-point game and Adams was just warming up. He hit another three ball soon after for an 18-1 Brisbane run to make it a three-point ball game.

Melbourne answered from there including a couple of clutch threes to Doyle, and an and-one after another steal to Tyson Walker, to come away with the nine-point win.

The Bullets are now back on the road to play the New Zealand Breakers next Thursday ahead of a run of three consecutive games at home against the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Cairns Taipans and Sydney Kings.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

BRISBANE BULLETS 86 (Adams 29, Prather 26, Harrison 16)

MELBOURNE UNITED 95 (Goulding 22, Doyle 17, Krebs 16)

BOX SCORE