Bullets take step forward against Hawks

The Brisbane Bullets once again had to hit back from a slow start but lit it up in the second quarter in a sign of what is possible before the eventual 113-101 win at home for the Illawarra Hawks.

The Bullets almost pulled off a miracle comeback win the previous Saturday evening in Perth against the New Zealand Breakers, and then found themselves in a similar position down 16 points early in the second quarter against the Hawks at WIN Entertainment Centre on Friday.

However, Brisbane turned the tide in exciting fashion with 35 points in the second quarter on the way to leading at half-time, but that took too much energy and in the end the Hawks were able to go on and win by 12 points.

The Bullets were coming into the game without Sam McDaniel and Josh Bannan while Mitch Norton and Deng Adel battled groin complaints throughout the game, but there was still plenty to be encouraged about.

Keandre Cook once again top-scored for Brisbane with 17 points and three steals on 3/4 three-point shooting while Tyrell Harrison put up 16 points, 10 boards, three assists and two steals.

Before hurting a groin, Adel finished with 14 points and three rebounds with Norton contributing 12 points and three assists while Isaac White added 12 points and five assists, Rocco Zikarsky 10 points and three rebounds, Casey Prather eight points and six assists, and Jarred Bairstow seven points and five boards.

Bullets coach Justin Schueller again didn’t like the start, but felt it was a step forward.

"The way we came out wasn’t what we were expecting in the way that we had attacked the whole week, and we thought we had identified who we needed to be and what we needed to be," Schueller said.

"There's a lot of pride in the way that we've responded twice now to say that we're right there but that's the frustration part getting jumped and giving up 38 in a quarter.

"That's not who we want to be and we put enough points on the board to win a game, but we give up 113 and it's not who we want to be.

"There were so many breakdowns at key moments and to be up at the half was great, but we expended so much energy to get there that their run in the third was from our tired legs. This isn't who we can be this year."

It wasn’t the first quarter response that the Bullets were hoping for after last week's start against New Zealand with the Hawks putting up 38 points to quarter-time on 71 per cent shooting.

Brisbane also had seven turnovers, but the positive was the points were coming with 25 of their own in the opening period including seven to captain Mitch Norton who gave a much-needed spark off the bench early.

The signs were good enough offensively that the Bullets could score enough and they just needed to tidy things up defensively, and that's exactly what happened in the second quarter.

Brisbane held Illawarra to 21 points in the second term on 22/36 shooting from the field and forced them into seven turnovers while then going on to pile on 35 points themselves.

That included an early 11-0 run and then Brisbane scored the last seven points of the half to grab the lead 60-59 thanks to another Hawks turnover that led to a big Keandre Cook dunk in transition, and then another big score to Norton.

Cook and Norton combined to go 5/5 from downtown for 27 points at the half with Brisbane going into the break full of momentum before both teams continued to shoot well, and push the pace in the third quarter.

Illawarra ended up finishing with a 12-4 run to lead 89-80 by three quarter-time with that lead back out to double-figures to start the fourth period and there wouldn’t quite be another fightback from Brisbane this time with the Hawks winning by 12.

The Bullets now return home and prepare to host the Sydney Kings next Friday night at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 101 (Cook 17, Harrison 16, Adel 14)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 113 (Kell III 30, Froling 16, Lee 15)

BOX SCORE