Adams leads Bullets charge with big home crowd

The Brisbane Bullets' injury crisis continued but it didn't stop Josh Adams, Isaac White and Tohi Smith-Milner leading the fight against Melbourne United in front of a strong Brisbane Entertainment Centre crowd.

The biggest crowd for the Bullets of 7229 turned out on Sunday afternoon in the last home game of the regular season but the home team was always up against just from a personnel perspective.

Already without the services Tyrell Harrison, Rocco Zikarsky and Emmett Naar, the Bullets lost Josh Bannan (concussion) following Friday's game in New Zealand and then Keandre Cook's afternoon ended early after he had five points and three assists up to that point.

The Bullet still had a strong first quarter and scores were level at the end of one, but United put up 35 points in the second period and that set up the second placed team for the eventual 115-88 victory at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

Josh Adams ended up playing his best game with the Bullets by being out there for over 30 minutes and finishing with 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals with 8/13 shooting along with 3/7 from behind the three-point arc.

In the absence of Bannan, Zikarsky and Harrison in the Bullets front court, Tohi Smith-Milner once again did a power of work for the Bullets up against the likes of Jack White, Rob Loe and Marcus to finish with 16 points, eight rebounds and two assists.

Casey Prather ended up with 15 points and four rebounds while Isaac White gave a spark especially in the second half with 14 points and four rebounds in the absence of Cook.

Deng Adel provided four points and two assists, Mitch Norton three points and an assist, Josh Kunen two points, Kye Savage two points, Tristan Devers two points and two rebounds, and Callum Dalton two points and two boards.

Ian Clark ended up top-scoring in the win for Melbourne with 24 points with five three-pointers while Chris Goulding went 4/8 for 16 points with Jack White adding 17 points and six rebounds, and Matthew Dellavedova 14 points, six assists and three steals.

The Bullets did start well with an early 6-0 run from Josh Adams and Tohi Smith-Milner before Callum Dalton sparked another 8-0 streak that included three-pointers to Deng Adel and Keandre Cook.

That saw Brisbane lead 16-11 and it was still a strong opening from the Bullets up to quarter-time with scores tied at 26-26 at the break with Smith-Milner and Adams combining for 14 of the points for the home team.

Adams and Casey Prather then hit long balls early in the second quarter to keep scores level but Melbourne put the foot down to finish the half outscoring Brisbane 29 points to eight the rest of the way to go into the main break leading 61-40.

Adams had put together his best half as a Bullet with 12 points before Isaac White gave Brisbane a good start to the second half when he started in the absence of Cook.

He scored seven quick points and Adams added another three-pointer, but up the other end the Bullets were struggling to contain United and the visitors did push their lead out to 27 after a run of five straight points.

The Bullets did get a pair of threes just before three quarter-time from Smith-Milner and Prather, but still heading into the fourth it was Melbourne leading by 26.

The United advantage did get out to as much as 31 points in the fourth quarter but the Bullets did manage a 6-0 run late thanks to Adams, White and Kye Savage, and got the final margin back to 27.

Sunday was the last home game for the season for the Bullets and over the final two round on the road, they take on the Adelaide 36ers on Friday night and then the Cairns Taipans the following Thursday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 88 (Adams 23, Smith-Milner 16, Prather 15)

MELBOURNE UNITED 115 (Clark 24, White 17, Goulding 16)

BOX SCORE