Bullets spoil Breakers Spark Arena return

It was party time in New Zealand as the Breakers made their long-awaited return to Spark Arena – but the Brisbane Bullets played gate crashers with a vital 95-83 win to remain in finals contention.

The Bullets were simply sublime in the first half, overcoming a vocal crowd of 7612 in Auckland and a fired up Breakers side returning to Spark Arena which has been the scene of their most memorable moments until COVID-19 restrictions hit in early 2020. 

Brisbane needed to play complete team basketball and they did, tearing out to a 21-point first half lead.

New Zealand was willing and tried to blast their way back into the contest with 32 shots from long range, with only 10 landing. The undermanned Breakers were given little chance by a clinical Bullets outfit that is fighting for their post-season lives.

There was no single star this time around for Brisbane, with four of their key players carrying the load. Lamar Patterson was best with 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Matt Hodgson had 16 points and nine rebounds while Nathan Sobey had 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

New import BJ Johnson continues to improve and played a big role in the first half, finishing with 14 points and four rebounds in his first NBL game out of Queensland. 

Jason Cadee with nine points and eight assists and Tyrell Harrison with six points and five rebounds were also crucial in the team performance.

Breakers import Levi Randolph started the match with steam coming out of his nostrils and was almost unstoppable with 30 points, six rebounds and five steals. 

Finn Delany (17 points, five rebounds), Tai Webster (15 points, four rebounds, five assists) and Corey Webster (13 points, six assists) all toiled as well.

The win means Brisbane remains hanging onto hope by their fingernails. But they face the mountainous prospect of having to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix twice - and by healthy margins to make up percentage points. 

The Bullets also face finals hopeful Sydney Kings on the run home while the Breakers also have an assignment against the Phoenix. If New Zealand can find a way to win that, it would also play into Brisbane's hands.

Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis said it was important that they adopt a one game at a time ethos over the next nine days to stay alive.

"The first thing is not get lost in that," he said.

"It's about maintaining our level-headed approach, our one day a time (attitude), work and get better to bring in the appropriate effort ... there is no margin for error.

"It is about ensuring that we are coming in with the right mindset, to give the physical effort required to give ourselves a chance. Then the cards will fall where they do."

Lemanis, who was coach of the dominant Breakers side that won a championship three-peat, was pleased to see basketball return to Spark Arena.

"Credit to the Auckland public for coming, and that the Breakers could put that many people in here," he said.

"The Breakers have had a really difficult season with the amount of time spent on the road, that affects not only the players and the staff, but their families back here. We appreciate all the sacrifices everybody gave to enable the league to continue this season."

It was a disappointing result for the Breakers, but an emotional occasion and coach Dan Shamir gave thanks to the crowded house that showed up.

"First of all I would like to thank all of the fans that came out here and to all of our games (in New Zealand), we have been waiting for this for so long," he said.

"We had marked this game as the highlight of the year. We wanted a win and a good performance, sometimes things don't happen as you wish. We were not good enough from the start."

Corey Webster also thanked the fans for creating the huge atmosphere in their return game.

"We have been waiting as a team to be home in front of our fans, it has been a tough road," he said.

"Thank you to all of the fans that came out and created that atmosphere. It was not the result we wanted, so we feel like we let them down a little bit.

"It was an amazing atmosphere, and hopefully we can get back to that next season."

The New Zealand faithful turned out in force for their return to Spark Arena and casual viewers would think they were competing for a spot in the Grand Final series, not running second last. The sound from the full house was deafening with the pressure was all on the Bullets.

The Breakers responded to the vocal crowd and opened up a 6-0, but it wasn't long before the Bullets found their way. 

BJ Johnson pushed his side in front for the first time and Sobey was a terrier on the defensive end. When Cadee splashed a triple to push the lead out to 20-13, the Breakers needed a time out to regroup.

Big man Colton Iverson was huge on both the defensive and offensive ends out of the timeout, finishing with a huge dunk that cut the margin to just one point. New Zealand had their chances to steal the lead back, but Cadee had the last say of the quarter and Brisbane took a 29-23 lead.

The Bullets roared to a 12-point lead which quickly led to a New Zealand time out. That lead ballooned to 15 before Delany nailed a triple to hopefully stop the rot, only for Harry Froling to immediately respond with a three-pointer of his own.

By the time the half-time siren came it was merciful for the Breakers, the Bullets firmly in control with a 54-35 lead.

The third quarter saw the Breakers come roaring back as their shots began to connect, Tai Webster doing the bulk of the damage to reduce the margin to just 11 at one point. 

You couldn't fault the Breakers effort, but the Bullets were up to the challenge and a Harrison dunk meant they went into the final break with a commanding lead.

The Breakers refused to put the cue in the rack and were more than willing to chance their arm, Corey Webster splashing a corner triple to cut the margin to 12 points. 

But every time they surged the Bullets found a way to break down their structures again, recording another essential to win to keep their finals hopes alive.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 20

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 83 (Randolph 30, Delany 17, T Webster 15)

BRISBANE BULLETS 95 (Patterson 21, Hodgson 16, Sobey 15) 

BOX SCORE