Bullets stay alive with scorching second half

The Brisbane Bullets have kept that race for fourth spot well and truly alive on the back of quite the statement second half to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 91-84 in Cairns on Wednesday night.

Both teams needed to create their own energy with no fans allowed in the Cairns Pop-Up Arena for the important contest, and it was Mitch Creek showing the way in the first half for the Phoenix.

Knowing a win would all but secure their playoff position and just about have the top four teams set, the Phoenix were on top throughout the first half.

But the Bullets kept their own slim finals hopes and also those of the Sydney Kings alive when they came out an inspired outfit after half-time even with no fans in the building.

With Harry Froling strong inside, imports Lamar Patterson and BJ Johnson hitting important baskets, and then Jason Cadee and Nathan Sobey catching fire, the Bullets outscored South East Melbourne 54 points to 42 after half-time to come away with the seven-point win.

What the result means is that the Bullets improve to a 17-17 record on the season to be just percentage behind the also 17-17 Kings while the Phoenix are now still fourth but a little more precariously at 18-16.

The top three is set with Melbourne, Perth and Illawarra so it's just that fourth spot to be decided, and tantalisingly the Bullets and Kings meet in an elimination battle on Saturday before Brisbane and South East Melbourne meet again on Tuesday.

Nathan Sobey warmed to the game nicely to finish with 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists with Jason Cadee tremendous with 19 points and six assists while hitting 4/8 from downtown.

There were plenty more big contributors from the Bullets, though, with BJ Johnson delivering 13 points, Lamar Patterson 10 points and six rebounds, Harry Froling 10 points and Tyrell Harrison 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in his 50th NBL appearance.

Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis wasn’t happy with the start, but the last two and-a-half quarters was much closer to what he was hoping to see to keep the playoff hopes alive.

"I thought it was the back end of the second quarter where we started to find that defensive collective effort and unity," Lemanis said.

"I thought we were certainly slow out of the blocks in terms of our mentality and physical presence in the game, and we allowed them to pretty much execute whatever they wanted to execute, and we were on our heels and chasing. 

"But from midway through that second quarter we started to arrest that, we got into it a bit better defensively and we got better at our pick and roll coverages. Ultimately that ended up being a little disruptive and that enabled us to get out get a little pace in the game. 

"I thought we were slow early, but as the game continued we did a nice job of finding some nice pace in the game, and finding some easy baskets. Scoring 48 points in the paint at 68 per cent again is reflective of the heat that we put on the rim which is good for us when we have that mentality. Good things are happening when we are doing that."

Mitch Creek couldn’t have done much more to try and lift the Phoenix finishing with 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Kyle Adnam also had 20 points for South East Melbourne, Ryan Broekhoff 12 points and seven rebounds, Keifer Sykes eight points and eight assists, and Yanni Wetzell eight points and four boards.

The third quarter was when the game turned towards the Bullets, Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell saw warning signs even before that.

"Clearly our third quarter was really poor but I had an inkling before that even in the first half," Mitchell said.

"We were missing defensive assignments, scout stuff and that to me just indicates that the team's not locked in for whatever reason. We played them a couple of weeks ago so we're pretty clear on what we wanted to accomplish, we were just unable to do it."

Mitch Creek started the game like a man possessed for the Phoenix and that helped set the tone for Ryan Broekhoff, Kyle Adnam and Reuben Te Rangi to all knock down three-pointers for them to lead 25-16 after one.

It was Jason Cadee who shot the Bullets back into the game in the second quarter but Creek had still been the dominant player on the floor to half-time with 16 points and that helped South East Melbourne to a narrow 42-37 advantage.

Brisbane turned the tide completely in the third quarter starting with back-to-back buckets from Lamar Patterson. Tyrell Harrison also scored and then Nathan Sobey drained a three for the 9-0 run to put the Bullets up four.

Creek responded with the next six points for the Phoenix but Sobey was now starting to feel and when he completed the four-point play, Brisbane's lead was six. Cadee helped stretch that to 11 all of a sudden in the favour of the Bullets by three quarter-time.

A three ball and then offensive rebound and putback from Harry Froling were then massive to start the fourth for Brisbane to keep the lead at double-figures despite five quick Phoenix points from Kyle Adnam.

Brisbane imports Patterson and BJ Johnson then extended the lead back to 12 with six minutes on the clock before Sobey and Cadee slammed the door shut out of a timeout, and the Bullets cruised to the seven-point win to keep their season alive.

The pressure now goes back on the Phoenix to need to win in Auckland against the New Zealand Breakers on Saturday while the Bullets can stay alive with a win over Sydney on the road on Saturday before these two teams close the regular season in Brisbane on Tuesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 21

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 84 (Creek 28, Adnam 20, Broekhoff 12)

BRISBANE BULLETS 91 (Sobey 22, Cadee 19, Johnson 13) 

BOX SCORE