Massive Bullets Comeback Compounds Kings' Woes

The fourth quarter horrors of the Sydney Kings continued on Friday night with the Brisbane Bullets taking full advantage to light up Nissan Arena to come back from 19 points down to score the 96-87 win.

The Kings were stung by giving up an 18-1 run to finish Sunday's game against New Zealand to go from 10 points up with five minutes left before losing by seven. They then came out on Friday night in Brisbane looking a team desperate and determined to make amends.

With Jaylen Adams lighting it up showing just how much Sydney had missed him over the first part of the season, the Kings produced a 20-4 start on the way to an eventual 19-point advantage when DJ Vasiljevic hit a third three-point bomb for the first quarter.

Then even with Xavier Cooks ejected in the second quarter after two points, five rebounds and five assists, Sydney maintained control to still lead by nine at half-time and seven by three quarter-time.

However, the Bullets caught fire with eight points in just over a minute to start the fourth term and kept the momentum rolling. They ended up scoring 20 of the first 25 points of the quarter to go from seven points down to eight points up, and ending up winning by nine.

It's consecutive wins for the first time this season for the Bullets with Nathan Sobey brilliant on his way to 30 points, four rebounds and three assists on 8/15 from the field, 3/7 from beyond the arc and 11/13 at the foul line.

Jason Cadee got hot too going 5/10 from three while hitting his 200th three-pointer for Brisbane and 500th in the NBL on his way to 18 points and five assists.

Lamar Patterson added 16 points, five rebounds and three assists, Robert Franks 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Ty Harrison nine points and 15 boards.

Bullets coach James Duncan was coaching against the team he was assistant at the past two seasons and he always had faith that his side could fight back.

"Well I knew what the problem was and the guys knew that as well. We have a team that can come back obviously with the talent that we have, but it had to start with some soul searching and looking in the mirror. I knew that we could come back, it was just a matter of doing," Duncan said.

"I keep on saying that this is about us and how we approach it, and our standard. Tonight's game, even though we won the game, it wasn’t good enough. We need to be better and we can't be satisfied especially with that first quarter. I'm happy that we were able to come back but we need to be a lot better."

It's going to be a tough loss to digest for the Kings considering how well they started, and the fact they maintained control for three quarters on the back of the way they finished Sunday against New Zealand.

Jaylen Adams was the undoubted bright spot for Sydney with the point guard delivering 33 points and six assists including hitting 7/14 from deep.

DJ Vasiljevic added 21 points on 5/10 from downtown with Jarell Martin adding 18 points, 12 rebounds and three assists.

Kings coach Chase Buford didn’t hide how much losing Cooks in the second quarter but the fourth-quarter fadeout was about more than just that.

"I didn't like it and it obviously changed the game quite a bit given we were plus-17 with Xave on the floor. It's a bummer we couldn’t have him out there longer," he said.

"I told the guys in the locker room that from our six losses, four of the games we've been the better team for three quarters. We've got to find ways to finish games better. Obviously we can get better shots, which I keep saying, and again we tried to do it on our own a little bit. 

"But more importantly that's two games in-a-row that we give up 30 points in the fourth quarter. We pride ourselves on being a defensive team and getting stops so giving up 31 points in the fourth and 61 for a half is just not good enough."

The two teams were coming off contrasting last outings with the Bullets winning big over the Phoenix and the Kings blowing it late against the Breakers, but clearly this was a Sydney team determined to make amends even away from home.

Jaylen Adams set the tone with an early three ball before the Kings went on a commanding run of 15 straight points with a host of offensive rebounds including one that led to DJ Vasiljevic's second three-pointer of that stretch.

Suddenly Sydney led 20-4 and they didn’t let up with Wani Swaka Lo Buluk connecting from deep to stretch his team's lead back out to 15 before another basket to Adams, a throwdown from Angus Glover and third triple to Vasiljevic saw them up 31-12, and still 31-15 by quarter-time.

Sydney's lead blew back out to 17 early in the second quarter with Adams again hitting from downtown but the Kings soon copped a savage blow with Cooks' night over when he got a technical foul on top of an earlier unsportsmanlike.

That robbed Sydney of a key piece the rest of the game and Brisbane threatened to take full advantage with triples from Nathan Sobey and Jason Cadee straight after, but the Kings still did enough to lead 44-35 at the half.

The Kings maintained their edge throughout the first part of the third quarter on the back of a couple more three-point bombs from Adams. When he made it three in a matter of minutes to start the half, Sydney were still up double-figures but Brisbane weren’t going away.

Sobey hit a big three shortly before three quarter-time for Brisbane and Sydney's lead was just 72-65 heading into the fourth.

It was then the most remarkable start to the fourth term. Cadee and Sobey drained triples and with the home crowd roaring, Sobey threw an alley-oop to Ty Harrison in transition. He flushed it, the Bullets had hit the front and Chase Buford called for time.

While Vasiljevic scored five quick points afterwards, Sydney couldn’t stop the Brisbane momentum. Cadee made another triple, Harrison scored on a putback and then Franks connecting from deep and out of nowhere, the home team was up seven with Buford calling another timeout.

There would be no comeback with Brisbane going on to win by nine and the two teams now do it all again against each other, albeit at Qudos Bank Arena, on Sunday afternoon.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 8

BRISBANE BULLETS 96 (Sobey 30, Cadee 18, Franks 16, Patterson 16)

SYDNEY KINGS 87 (Adams 33, Vasiljevic 21, Martin 18)

BOX SCORE