Breakers fire early and hold off Bullets

A late fightback by the Bullets wasn't enough to stop a Breakers 97-92 win to open Week 3 at the NBL Cup in Melbourne.

The Bullets trailed by three and had a chance to reel in a rebound for a shot at overtime in the dying seconds, but were unable to get the vital board.

Brisbane did well to overcome their slow start in the first quarter to put themselves back in the contest. Vic Law (19 points, 10 rebounds) had an enormous third quarter and then deputised well as a makeshift centre in the final term as Matt Hodgson fouled out. 

Nathan Sobey contributed 19 points and five dimes while Anthony Drmic (17 points, four rebounds) continued his run of recent form as well.

Ultimately the first quarter came back to haunt them.

Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis conceded that they are not going to win many games conceding a 22-0 run.

"The way we came out obviously wasn't great," he said.

"New Zealand the last three games have come out and dominated teams in the first five to six minutes and that is something that we didn't do a job of countering that tonight.

"On the defensive end they pushed us out what we wanted to do, settled for some contested shots and didn't get through what we are trying to get through.

"They certainly made some shots early and some of that might have to do with our defensive coverage but also not scoring it has hard to get back and get your defence set. We worked our way back into the game but that was not good enough because we didn't win."

The Breakers stunned the Adelaide 36ers in their last start and shot out of the blocks in this match as well, opening up a quick 11-point advantage. 

The Bullets lacked defensive intensity early which resulted in a timeout to stop the rot - it didn't work. The Breakers were getting the easiest of looks and another smash up result looked on the cards.

At 20-2 and just six minutes into the first quarter, it was all but goodnight nurse already for the Bullets. As their confidence fell, all Brisbane could manage were long-range Sobey prayers and they weren't being answered. 

The Bullets found some late buckets but haemorrhaging a 22-0 run had cost them dearly as they went into the first break trailing 27-12.

After the Bullets shot 0/5 from long range in the first quarter Jason Cadee splashed a much-needed triple and was fouled going for another, converting all three from the charity stripe. 

It helped the misfiring Bullets put themselves back into a position to be competitive and when Sobey found his range the deficit was just eight points.

Corey Webster needed to have his left knee strapped midway through the quarter while Tai Webster was benched with three fouls and suddenly the Breakers had lost their two best weapons. 

As the Bullets went on an 11-0 run to cut the margin to just four points Webster showed the strapping was no hindrance as he drained eight quick points to give New Zealand a 47-35 half-time lead.

Vic Law exploded out of the break and whacked home 13 straight points including two triples to reduce the lead to just five points, but every time it looked like Brisbane could steal the ascendency the Breakers found answers to create another buffer. 

Still, Brisbane won another quarter and trailed by just five heading into the final term with a golden chance to steal victory from the jaws of defeat. 

It was becoming a regular pattern, the Bullets would cut the lead to just three to five points and the Breakers would push it back over 10. 

When Corey Webster fouled out with two-and-a-half minutes remaining and Sobey nailed two triples there were nervous moments for New Zealand, but they held their nerve to secure their second win on the bounce.

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 97 (C Webster 21, T Webster 19, Bach 16)

BRISBANE BULLETS 92 (Law 19, Sobey 18, Drmic 17) 

POINTS AWARDED – New Zealand Breakers 4.5, Brisbane Bullets 2.5

BOX SCORE