Bullets go down fighting against New Zealand

Coming off a long break, the Brisbane Bullets went down fighting at home against the New Zealand Breakers. A spirited fourth quarter from the Bullets wasn’t enough, as they fell to a 88-83 loss at Nissan Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Bullets took the floor this weekend for the first time since their thrilling four-point win over Illawarra three weeks ago, which was also at home. But even though the result was different this time around, the Bullets fans continued to bring the noise and passion throughout another tough match.

Lamar Patterson led the way for the Bullets with 17 points and seven rebounds, with 14 points in the second-half alone. Guard Nathan Sobey was also a standout despite the loss, finishing the night with 14 points, five rebounds and seven assists.

An honourable mention deservedly goes to New Zealand-born centre Jack Salt, who had the best game of his NBL career to date, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds.

With starting centre Tyrell Harrison getting into foul trouble during the game, Salt had over 11 minutes on the court – which was his first appearance in a Bullets jersey since his 2.6 minutes in the season opener against Tasmania.

New Zealand opened the scoring early in the match through Yannick Wetzell, in the start of an entertaining first few minutes of basketball. The two teams traded baskets throughout the first three minutes of action, which had the Breakers up by one.

The Breakers rushed out to a 11-20 lead seven minutes into the match, with the visitors going on a rapid 7-0 run.

But the second quarter was an improved showing from the Bullets, who outscored the Breakers 23-19. Sobey was instrumental into the mini-fightback in the second, scoring seven points in this period.

To showcase how clinical the Breakers were in this match, they gave away their first turnover of the match a few minutes into the second.

The quarter ended with a buzzer beater from Anthony Drmic, which saw Brisbane trail by nine after a slow start to the game.

Robert Franks struggled to make his shots drop in the first-half,  but the forward started the second-half with a bang, nailing a three-pointer to register his first points of the night with the opening points of the third.

Brisbane went on to have their best run of the match so far, scoring 12 points to 2 in the quarter, which saw them trail by seven. Later, they managed to cut the lead down to as small as five.

Just as they did at the end of the first-half, the Bullets finished the third with another buzzer beater. Bullets captain Jason Cadee convert a shot from close range, which saw his side go into the final break down by just seven.

In the fourth quarter, a Lamar Patterson layup with eight minutes to play cut the Breakers’ lead down to just four. While New Zealand seemed to have an answer to everything, the Bullets never gave up.

With the Brisbane crowd in full voice, the Bullets managed to cut down the lead to just two with just under three minutes to play, and do so again inside the final minute.

A dime from Sobey with less than 30 seconds to play allowed for Anthony Drmic to score an easy basket. The shot saw the hosts trail by just two in the final stages of the game.

While the Breakers managed to pull away at the end, the Bullets gave it their all despite the result. 

NBL22 Round 6

BRISBANE BULLETS 83 (Patterson 17, Sobey 14, Franks 13)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 88 (Wetzell 27, Besson 12, Siva 11)

Next Home Game

Up next for the Bullets is another home match against South East Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday, January 15. Tip off for that match at Nissan Arena is 4:30pm AEST.

The Bullets will be calling on Brisbane fans to sell out the home court, as they look to improve on their now 2-3 record.