Fourth quarter Kings overrun Bullets

For the seventh time in NBL25 and the second occasion in 48 hours the Sydney Kings have come from behind to take charge in the fourth quarter and beat the Brisbane Bullets 91-86 on Saturday night.

The Kings were fresh off a dazzling 38-point fourth quarter on Thursday at home to the South East Melbourne Phoenix with Jaylen Adams scoring 21 of those in the eventual nine-point win.

They arrived at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre having done something similar last month at home to the Bullets too.

The Bullets maintained a narrow lead for most of the evening in front of a strong home crowd of 7028 including by one at quarter-time, three at half-time and then two at three quarter-time.

However, the Kings are proving the masters of fourth quarters this season and showed that again with the first five points, and then another 6-0 run for their biggest lead of the game at seven.

Sydney confirmed the five-point win despite leaving the door ajar with their free-throw shooting to improve to 13-9 with the two wins to open 2025 while the Bullets slip to 9-11 with three straight defeats.

The contrasts were as significant as in any other game in NBL25 with the Bullets dominating on the boards with 54 rebounds to Sydney's 37 including 29 at the offensive end to seven for 20 second chance points to 11.

Brisbane ended up shooting 12/36 from three-point range but the Kings only went 5/11 having put the long ball away opting to be aggressive going to the rack and being rewarded with 31 free-throws to 15.

They only made 18 of those to not fully capitalise but did shoot 57 per cent from the field with 56 points in the paint with Jaylen Adams again finishing with 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds.

Xavier Cooks added 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three blocks with Kouat Noi contributing 15 points, Cam Oliver 14 points and eight rebounds, and Alex Toohey 13 points and four steals.

"We hung in," Sydney coach Brian Goorjian said.

"We just got this belief in the fourth quarter. "We got the right guys the ball ...and we defended.

"We went to where we needed to go to win the game."

The Bullets will be kicking themselves to lose on a game they took 29 extra shots in but shot 35 per cent with Casey Prather top-scoring with 18 points to go with 11 rebounds but going 7/23.

Mitch Norton ended up with 14 points with Josh Bannan contributing 13 points and 13 rebounds, Tyrell Harrison 12 points and 14 boards, the debuting Josh Adams 11 points, and Keandre Cook 10 points, five assists and four rebounds but shooting 3/15.

"To get 29 offensive rebounds, to have so many more shot attempts than them (88-59), we were just unfortunate in that last quarter, with great looks, the ball doesn't drop," Bullets coach Justin Schueller said.

"That's where the frustration is."

It was a hot start from the Bullets as they raced out to an 8-2 lead including an early three ball to Josh Adams as he marked his return to the NBL against the team he played in that NBL22 Championship Series against.

The Kings responded with a 9-2 run of their own before both teams settled into a groove the rest of the opening period.

Deng Adel was playing his first game since November 17 and knocked down a couple of three-pointers late in the term for the Bullets, but Jaylen Adams hit one on the buzzer for Sydney and that cut the Brisbane advantage to 29-28.

Josh Bannan and Josh Adams then opened the second quarter with long balls for the Bullets as they opened up a seven-point lead, but Jaylen Adams was keeping the Kings in touch.

He went into half-time with another 16 points and the Kings did shoot at 54 per cent as a team, but they took eight fewer shots, were outrebounded by 13 and the Bullets held a slender 48-45 lead thanks to shooting 9/18 from three opposed to 2/6 from the Kings.

Brisbane had 27 of their 48 points from threes in the half while Sydney had 32 of their 45 in the paint and another seven at the foul line.

Cam Oliver started the second half well for Sydney with a three-pointer and then a dunk on the nice pass from Xavier Cooks but when the star import picked up a third foul and then a fourth with a technical, Brisbane were able to continue dominating the boards.

With 22 offensive rebounds to three to three quarter-time, the Bullets were clinging to the two-point lead but it remained a ferocious contest right through the fourth quarter.

Kouat Noi landed a three to open the final term for Sydney before Cooks finished inside before Brisbane responded with three balls to Josh Adams and Mitch Norton.

Sydney soon took over, though, with six straight points to end up leading by seven and holding on for the five-point win from there to make it three from three over Brisbane in NBL25.

The Bullets remain at home to play host to the New Zealand Breakers now on Wednesday night while the Kings are back home to Sydney to host the struggling Melbourne United on Thursday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 86 (Prather 18, Norton 14, Bannan 13)

SYDNEY KINGS 91 (Adams 21, Cooks 19, Noi 15)

BOX SCORE