Bullets blitz Hawks on home court

Written by NBL media.

Nathan Sobey sent a reminder that his best is still among the elite of the NBL as he torched the Illawarra Hawks in a stunning early outburst as the Brisbane Bullets made it back-to-back wins, prevailing 86-61.

After returning from injury, the superstar combo guard has been building and it all came together on Thursday night at Nissan Arena with the Bullets backing up their breakthrough first win of the season in the 'Gong against the same opposition on Monday.

Sobey knocked down his first four three-point attempts in a remarkable shooting display for his best ever quarter in the NBL. He had 14 points in the first term, and 22 in total.

It was the Bullets' first home win of the season on the back of shooting 41 per cent to 30 from the Hawks, pulling down 55 rebounds to 42 and having six players scoring at least eight points.

Jason Cadee put up 13 points, four rebounds and four assists with Harry Froling adding 13 points and 10 rebounds, Aron Baynes nine points and 14 boards, and Tanner Krebs eight points and five rebounds. Tyler Johnson also added 11 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists while taking nine free-throws.

Sobey scored 14 points in the first quarter for his best ever performance in a single period and it was on the back of a remarkable patch where he drained three consecutive long balls. He then scored inside the arc before knocking down a fourth triple to be 4/4 from downtown.

The Hawks went on a  9-0 run made up of two threes from George King and another from Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, but it was all Brisbane and they closed the first term on another 8-3 run to be up 29-17.

The Bullets continued to roll in the seconf quarter and attacked the paint, getting to the free throw line 12 times in comparison to the Hawks one.

The Bullets also had 26 rebounds to 16 in the first half while shooting 52 per cent to 31. And with Sobey adding another eight points in the second term to have 22 at half-time, the Bullets were cruising up 52-30.

An early second half three from Tanner Krebs saw Brisbane's lead grow to 26 points and it soon became 27 after three free-throws from Harry Froling.

The lead was still 27 by three quarter-time before Aron Baynes completed a four-point play early in the fourth and from there the Bullets cruised to a 25-point win.

The Bullets next game is against theTasmania JackJumpers in Hobart next Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

BRISBANE BULLETS 86 (Sobey 22, Froling 13, Cadee 13)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 61 (Deng 11, Siva 9, King 9) 

BOX SCORE