Bullets ever so close to ending Sydney drought

Frustration will sum up the way the Brisbane Bullets feel after a 104-95 loss on Sunday to the Sydney Kings but it was an afternoon at Qudos Bank Arena where they were in control for significant periods and that included countless positives.

The Bullets were attempting to beat the Kings at Qudos Bank Arena for the first time since December 2017 and to stop a nine-game losing streak in the building, and for a lot of Sunday afternoon they were on the right track to do that.

It was two significant runs that won the game for the Kings and that will leave Hostplus Brisbane Bullets Head Coach Justin Schueller frustrated because outside of those two runs from Sydney, Brisbane was largely in control.

The first one was either side of half-time where Brisbane were 14 points in front before the Kings scored 18 consecutive points either side of the break. However, the Bullets worked back on top and were leading by six with three minutes to play.

However, Sydney scored the last 15 points of the game from there to end up winning by nine with the Bullets left to rue one that got away against the reigning champions.

There were plenty of good signs once more for Brisbane with 10 players all scoring at least four points while they went 48 per cent as a team despite only getting to the foul line 15 times.

The Bullets did also lose in-form centre Tyrell Harrison to a calf injury in the first half with Shannon Scott still missing with a hamstring injury, but plenty of others stepped up again.

Captain Nathan Sobey top-scored with 17 points and five assists with Josh Bannan impressive once more with 16 points and five boards.

Aron Baynes also had 13 points and three rebounds while Sam McDaniel produced 10 points and four boards, Chris Smith nine points, three rebounds and two assists, DJ Mitchell eight points, four boards and two blocks, and Isaac White six points.

Rocco Zikarsky delivered six points in seven minutes with Mitch Norton contributing six points, four assists, three rebounds and a steal.

Former MVP Jaylen Adams top-scored for the Kings with 24 points with DJ Hogg adding 16 points, Jonah Bolden 13, Alex Toohey 12 and Jordan Hunter 10.

Brisbane made the perfect start trying to end the tough run at Qudos Bank Arena by scoring the game's first four points courtesy of Tyrell Harrison and Sam McDaniel before Sydney responded with the next seven.

The Kings were leading 16-12 after a three from former Bullet Shaun Bruce, but Brisbane then took control for the rest of the first quarter closing it out with a 14-4 run.

That included buckets to Isaac White, Josh Bannan, DJ Mitchell, Aron Baynes and Nathan Sobey along with a three ball from Chris Smith with the Bullets leading 26-20 by quarter-time with just the one turnover, shooting 50 per cent from the field and having eight players scoring.

The Bullets then opened the second stanza with the opening four points beginning with a three ball from Sobey to open up a 10-point advantage.

Baynes scored the next five points for the visitors to keep the lead at eight before Rocco Zikarsky gave him a breather and scored two buckets at the rim to push the Brisbane advantage out to 12.

White was able to stretch it to 14 but Sydney did close the half with the last eight points to cut Brisbane's lead to 51-45 going into the locker room with the Bullets still having just the one turnover and 10 players having scored.

After closing the first half with the last eight points, Sydney scored the first 10 of the second half too to have turned that 14-point deficit into a four-point lead, but the Bullets did well to turn the momentum back their way.

It started with scores from Bannan and McDaniel and then three-pointers heading towards three quarter-time from Baynes and Smith helped keep the Bullets within five points heading into the fourth.

Brisbane kept things close through the opening stages of the final period and then with six minutes to play a three-pointer from Smith had the margin back within two, and it started a potentially game clinching 10-0 Brisbane run.

McDaniel and Sobey also scored, and Bannan completed an and-one play with the Bullets leading by five with 3:45 to play.

Bannan then finished off another three-point play with just over three minutes on the clock with the Bullets leading 95-89.

However, the last three minutes didn’t go to plan and it started with Baynes fouling out for the Bullets with Harrison's game already over with a calf injury.

The Kings would go on to score the only 15 points of the last three minutes to go from six points down to end up winning by nine to make it 10 straight at home to the Bullets.

The Bullets now return home to host the Perth Wildcats on Saturday night at Nissan Arena in the last game before the week off for the FIBA break, and then a road trip to Cairns on December 1.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 7

BRISBANE BULLETS 95 (Sobey 17, Bannan 16, Baynes 13)

SYDNEY KINGS 104 (Adams 24, Hogg 16, Bolden 13)

BOX SCORE