Baynes Fires, Bullets Open Account for NBL23

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Aron Baynes set it up with his best half of basketball in the NBL to help the Brisbane Bullets get their first win of the season giving the Illawarra Hawks another Monday night at home to forget, winning 82-56.

Aron Baynes set it up with his best half of basketball in the NBL to help the Brisbane Bullets get their first win of the season giving the Illawarra Hawks another Monday night at home to forget, winning 82-56.

Both teams came into the clash to close Round 4 at WIN Entertainment Centre desperate for a win with the Hawks having lost three straight and the Bullets all five of their matches so far of NBL23.

Illawarra had a week to stew over a 26-point home loss last Monday, but it was Brisbane who showed its desperation racing out to an 18-6 start, and leading by as much as 18 points in the first half on the back of 13 points and nine rebounds from Baynes.

It was his best half in the NBL so far and the Bullets built off it. While the Hawks did try their best to fight back, they could never get closer than eight points in the second half.

The Bullets had all the answers as they improved to 1-5 on the season and sending the Hawks to the same record at the same time.

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Neither team really got rolling offensively but Brisbane still shot 42 per cent opposed to Illawarra's 30 including hitting 8/25 from deep to 7/35. The Bullets also had 52 rebounds to 41 but coach James Duncan would like to see fewer than 16 turnovers moving forward.

Baynes top-scored with 17 points and 14 rebounds on 8/13 shooting while again playing bang on 25 minutes as his comeback gathers steam.

Jason Cadee hit four triples for 16 points and four assists with Nathan Sobey adding 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Tyler Johnson 11 points and three blocks, and DJ Mitchell 10 points and six boards.

Bullets coach James Duncan was proud of his playing group for sticking together and getting the breakthrough win.

"It's been a long time coming and credit to the boys for continuing to believe, and fighting through this difficult time," Duncan said.

"There's been plenty of games where we've been pretty close and just couldn’t get over the hump or had a two-minute stretch where we couldn’t execute. But the guys were determined tonight to get this W so well done to them."

It was another rough night for the Hawks with Tyler Harvey finishing with 13 points on 5/18 shooting with Sam Froling adding 11 points and six rebounds, Deng Deng eight points, and Lachie Dent seven points, six rebounds and four assists.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Watch your head ? JC ? Ty<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIVERCITYSTRONG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIVERCITYSTRONG</a> <a href="https://t.co/rMgTtSpEjo">pic.twitter.com/rMgTtSpEjo</a></p>— Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1584483219050618880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas knows the areas his team is struggling in and that the arrival of Peyton Siva to replace Justin Robinson won't fix it all, but he'll get to work now before Thursday night.

"I just think we need to be better all-round," Jackomas said.

"We need to be better defensive to get some cheap points, we need to be better offensively when we're moving the ball, we need a little bit more skill, a little bit more luck and seeing the ball go through the hole.

"I thought we got good ones tonight and the zone got us a little bit at the beginning, but I thought we moved it enough and got some open ones. We relied on the three ball a little bit too much and didn’t get our feet in the paint at all, which we'll look at and we have a couple of days to figure that out.

"It won't be when Peyton comes in and this is going to be fixed, we're on a path of being pretty bad and we have to get to that good part again and figure it out."

The week off after last Monday's horror show at home to New Zealand didn’t seem to help Illawarra. Brisbane came out hitting the first five points hunting that first win before a 9-0 run really broke the game open.

The Bullets went up 18-6 on the back of three-point plays from Aron Baynes and Tanner Krebs, and a long bomb from Nathan Sobey.

The Hawks did stop the rot including George King hitting from deep, but it was all the Bullets still who led 22-13 by the end of one.

Baynes then took over for the first real time in his NBL career to start the second quarter. He hit the Bullets' first three buckets of the term and soon the lead was back out double-figures with a triple from Jason Cadee, and and-one from Ty Harrison.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Aron Baynes with the hook-pass? We don't know what to call it but we love it ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/5iNfw2XmwS">pic.twitter.com/5iNfw2XmwS</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1584468753583984640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Bullets blew it open further with three-point makes from Tyler Johnson and Harry Froling just before half-time to see them lead by 18, and still 15 at the break.

Baynes had his best half of the season with 13 points and nine rebounds while even from the foul line the shooting difference was clear between the team, with the Bullets going 7/7 and the Hawks 2/8.

Just as it was getting to desperation times for the Hawks with the Bullets up 16 early in the third, the home team went on an 8-0 run including triples from Lachie Dent and Deng Deng to keep things interesting heading towards three quarter-time.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That's just nasty Will Hickey ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/XcSWw9Ip9U">pic.twitter.com/XcSWw9Ip9U</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1584483285480022016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Brisbane was still up 13 going into the fourth before DJ Mitchell knocked down the open three to put it back out to 16. Baynes stretched it to 18 again and a couple of three-pointers from Cadee then ensured the Bullets opened their account with the 26-point win.

The two teams now back it up to do it all again on Thursday night, albeit this time at Nissan Arena for Brisbane's second home game of NBL23.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 4

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 56 (Harvey 13, Froling 11, Deng 8)

BRISBANE BULLETS 82 (Baynes 17, Cadee 16, Johnson 11, Sobey 11)

BOX SCORE