Bullets Response Continues with Third Straight Win

Sunday, January 22, 2023

The Brisbane Bullets' late season resurgence has continued with a third straight victory after beating the Illawarra Hawks in an entertaining affair between the cellar dwellers, winning 103-86 on Saturday night.

The Brisbane Bullets' late season resurgence has continued with a third straight victory after beating the Illawarra Hawks in an entertaining affair between the cellar dwellers, winning 103-86 on Saturday night.

These might be the two teams out of the NBL23 playoff race, but both were coming off last up wins on Thursday night and were determined to end their seasons on a high.

The Hawks returned to the WIN Entertainment Centre having snapped their 11-game losing run beating the New Zealand Breakers sealed with that half court shot from Tyler Harvey just before time expired. The Bullets, meanwhile, were fresh off wins against the South East Melbourne Phoenix and Adelaide 36ers following a better performance against Melbourne Unived after the 49-point shellacking from the Sydney Kings.

The Bullets had come to play with Andrew White III opening scoring with a two-point jump shot before Sam Froling returned serve with the layup with the points rolling in from there.

In the end, it was the Bullets who took victory in the clash 103-86 in a real seesaw of a battle.

The Bullets had to take notice of a resurgent Tyler Harvey fresh off that game winner in Auckland on Thursday. In this one with a losing side, Harvey led scoring with an impressive effort of 22 points, three rebounds and an assist.

At the end of the first quarter the visitors led 24-20 with Harvey sinking two from deep and leading point contribution for the Hawks (eight) and White leading scoring for the Bullets with eight also.

The Bullets played 10 of 11 of their players in the first eight minutes showing coach Greg Vanderjagt’s desire to roll that rotation and give a variety of shooting options across the court.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">AERIAL ATTACK FROM DJ MITCHELL ?<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/7mvL0xUiqC">pic.twitter.com/7mvL0xUiqC</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1616704826540453889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The second quarter was a shootout with both teams combining for 54 points with the Bullets retaining their lead 50-48 at half-time. Harvey led the scoring across both teams with 16.

Into the third quarter, Aron Baynes scored the two with the ball continuing to be fed to him with the game plan from Vanderjagt being to shut down Harvey and eliminate his scoring potency in the second half.

However, the classy guard took two points to cut back the deficit before Jason Cadee brought a quick five points as is expected from the reliable Bullets workhorse.

Closing out the end of the third the visitors held the lead by single digits 73-67 with the Hawks continuing to hit back with the drive that would have you believe they were in playoff contention.

The final quarter saw the Bullets push their lead out to double digits off the back of a eight point quarter from Tyler Johnson.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THAT'S A JAM MANGO MATHIANG ? <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/TEBrc519FO">pic.twitter.com/TEBrc519FO</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1616690193633009664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In the end the Bullets would leave as victors 103-86 with leading contributions from Johnson with (23 points, three rebounds, four assists) and Harry Froling (14 points, nine rebounds, two assists).

The Hawks remain at the bottom of the standings at 3-25 while the Bullets sit one spot higher at 8-17.

Bullets coach Greg Vanderjagt continues to be pleased with the way his group has responded to that Sydney loss two Wednesdays ago.

"Really happy to get the three in a row after a season that has been up and down like a rollercoaster," Vanderjagt said.

"I think tonight defensively we did really well to get the ball out of Harvey’s hands and make each other better in play and a really good win.

"We have spoken a lot about who we want to be and shape the group building into next year. Next year is always in the back of our mind but when we play good basketball and play the right way then people take notice."

Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas just felt his group couldn’t back up the high of Thursday's win in New Zealand.

"I just thought we didn’t have the pop," Jackomas said.

"It was just a bad game and unfortunate after we threw the challenge out but we couldn’t back it up. We played bad.

"We got them at a time they were trending the right way and even though we had chances to win tonight we just didn’t know where to go with it."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Aron Baynes is feeling bouncy early! ?<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/RZAesdLr3H">pic.twitter.com/RZAesdLr3H</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1616692267284332546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Hawks next host a Breakers side that sits third and the JackJumpers who will battle it out with the Phoenix and United for those final two play-in spots. They also have a tough road trip thrown in the mix next week heading to Perth to play a resurgent 'Cats in front of a loud and proud Red Army.

The Bullets host the Breakers twice before one of the biggest tests in the league - a road trip to Far North Queensland to take on the Cairns Taipans.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 86 (Harvey 22, Deng 13, Grida 13)

BRISBANE BULLETS 103 (Johnson 23, White III 18, Baynes 15)

BOX SCORE