Bullets can't quite complete deal on Kings

The Brisbane Bullets did plenty right once more and led most of the way but ultimately couldn’t knock down enough shots at home on Saturday night with the Sydney Kings prevailing 91-86.

The Bullets led for almost the entire first three quarters in front of a strong crowd of 7028 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre but the Kings have been fourth quarter specialists the entire NBL25 and showed that again on Saturday night to beat the Bullets for a third time this season.

It was a bizarre game in a lot of ways with the Bullets ending up taking 29 more field goal attempts than the Kings while also having 29 offensive rebounds to eight for the game and scoring 20 second chance points as a result to 11.

The Bullets also made it a focus to take away the three-point shot of the Kings and it worked with them only attempting 11 of them for the game, but they did get to the foul line 31 times instead and scored 56 points in the paint.

Ultimately the difference was that the Bullets shot just 35 per cent from the floor opposed to the 57 per cent from Sydney while Brisbane went 12/36 from three-point territory and only got to the foul line 15 times.

Casey Prather once again top-scored for Brisbane with 18 points to go with 12 rebounds, four assists and four steals while captain Mitch Norton worked tirelessly for 14 points, two rebounds and went 2/4 from downtown.

Josh Bannan recorded another 13 points, 13 rebounds and three assists with Tyrell Harrison finishing with 12 points and 14 boards, Keandre Cook 10 points, five assists and four rebounds, and Emmett Naar two points and a rebound.

Josh Adams made his first appearance for the Bullets as the replacement for James Batemon and made 3/6 from deep for 11 points with Deng Adel playing his first game since November 17 and hitting two threes on his way to six points in 15 minutes.

Jaylen Adams had 21 points and eight assists in the win for the Kings with Xavier Cooks adding 19 points, seven boards, five assists and three blocks.

The Bullets made the fast start to their first game of 2025 racing to an early 8-2 lead and that included new arrival Josh Adams making a quick impression by landing a three-pointer.

It soon became shot for shot for the rest of the first quarter with the Bullets maintaining a narrow edge with threes from Keandre Cook and Casey Prather before Deng Adel marked his return by hitting two quick three-pointers as well.

That helped Brisbane hold the 29-28 lead by quarter-time before the home team made a hot start to the second period going on a 10-2 run which included triples from Josh Bannan and Adams.

That had the Bullets out to a seven-point lead and they were still leading by three at half-time on the back of shooting 9/18 from three-point territory opposed to 2/6 from the Kings while dominating the glass with 27 rebounds to 14, and 12 at the offensive end to three.

No more than four points separated the two teams the entire third quarter with the stakes rising in the contest. It was a late bucket before three quarter-time from Prather that saw the Bullets clinging to the two-point lead after 10 more offensive rebounds that quarter to zero.

The Kings quickly regained the lead to start the final term before Adams made his third three in his first appearance for the Bullets to level scores up again.

Mitch Norton did the same shortly after but then Sydney made the decisive break in the game by scoring six straight points to open up their biggest lead of the night by seven, and holding out the Bullets from there to win by five.

The Bullets now remain at home and will play host to the New Zealand Breakers on Wednesday night back at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 86 (Prather 18, Norton 14, Bannan 13)

SYDNEY KINGS 91 (Adams 21, Cooks 19, Noi 15)

BOX SCORE