Law fires Bullets to first win over wounded Kings

There may be life after Lamar at the Brisbane Bullets after new import Vic Law put in a star performance as his side edged out the injury struck Sydney Kings 90-87 at Nissan Arena on Tuesday.

It was a match that went to the wire as Casper Ware was gifted three free-throws with his side trailing by just four in the dying seconds. But he could only manage one of three and his last gasp prayer after the offensive board from three-point land rimmed out as the Bullets secured their first win of the season.

Question marks were raised over the Bullets ability to compete in #NBL21 after their star import Lamar Patterson defected to the New Zealand Breakers which was amplified when Brisbane lost its opening two matches against the Hawks.

But they showed they can match it with the best by downing the 2020 Grand Finalists with Law (27 points, nine rebounds) turning in a performance that had NBL legend Andrew Gaze declaring that the Bullets might have "upgraded" by replacing Patterson with the Chicago forward. 

Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis praised Law as the "Holy Grail" of imports who could produce offensively, turn up in defence and be well liked by his peers as well.

"We always knew Vic was going to be a great player, it was always just going to take time for him to find his feet ... he plays defence, he cares about defence, he rebounds, he wants the big assignments and he is a good teammate," he said.

"That is really the Holy Grail."

It would be unfair to say that Law did it on his own though. Nathan Sobey (26 points, six rebounds, seven assists) turned in a real captain's performance which included several clutch plays late in the third and fourth quarters to thwart Sydney comebacks.

Big man Matt Hodgson returned in limited minutes, but young centre Tyrell Harrison (11 points, 11 rebounds and a block) showed he belongs at this level while Jason Cadee also chimed in with 11 points. 

After a disrupted pre-season and the late arrival of their imports, Lemanis has repeatedly stressed that the Bullets will be a work in progress. He saw great improvement in this win with Harrison and Sobey both stepping up.

"Sobey was a great example, we talk about the improvement and growth in this group ... last week he settled for three pointers and was not quite sure what to do," he said.

"Tonight he showed much better poise, composure and spacing on the floor. The continued growth of Tyrell is one of the fun things you get in sport. You invest in people and you go through that journey and then you see them start to get rewards for their effort."

Sydney’s wretched luck with injury continued as Didi Louzada returned from a back injury only to hobble off the court with a suspected ankle injury. He joins Xavier Cooks, Angus Glover and Daniel Kickert in the injury ward. 

Jarell Martin was again highly prolific in the paint with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Ware had 15 points and sharp-shooter DJ Vasiljevic finished with 13. Down on troops, the Kings lacked support at crucial moments although Ware nearly brought his side back from the brink.

Kings coach Adam Forde said while the loss of Louzada and backing up from a tough match against Cairns on Saturday didn't help, they weren't the cause of the loss.

"We are sort of managing minutes at the moment especially with some of our key guys, there are a few less guys that we can rotate through," he said. 

"Definitely fatigue was a factor but it wouldn't be the issue on why we lost that game. We definitely had our chances and that is what we will focus on."

Forde added that they were still waiting on scan results on Glover's knee injury from Saturday and were now sweating on the results for Louzada as well.

"We're having an unfortunately bad run," he said.

You wouldn't see a more free-flowing start to an NBL match as defence gave way for all-out attack as Vasiljevic splashed three triples, prompting Lemanis to call a time out and bark "We've given up 20 points in five minutes, that's what the issue is" at his troops.

Brisbane responded in the best possible way out of the timeout with an 11-0 run but Sydney rallied to steal back the lead, taking a 28-26 advantage into quarter-time.

Returning from a shoulder injury in limited minutes, Hodgson showed the Brisbane faithful what they had been missing with an immediate block on Jordan Hunter. 

Brisbane's shooting clip soared above 70 per cent in the first quarter but sunk dramatically in the second as they struggled to score, but fortunately for them, Sydney struggled to create good looks as well.

As both sides fought to grind their way into the match Sobey pushed the Bullets ahead late, but Ware splashed a buzzer-beating triple to ensure his side trailed by just two points at half-time.

Defence had been the Achilles Heel for both sides in the first half and it was Brisbane who responded the better, holding the Kings to two points for almost three minutes as they eased their way out to a seven-point lead. 

The Kings' injury woes then worsened as Louzada crashed to the court injured and the Bullets cashed in to extend their lead to 10.

Sydney refused to roll over and a late steal, bucket and foul shot meant they trailed by just 68-64 at the final break. The Kings continued to come at the Bullets again and again but the cool head of Sobey was the difference as Brisbane secured the pressure-relieving win.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 3

BRISBANE BULLETS 90 (Law 27, Sobey 26, Harrison 11, Cadee 11)

SYDNEY KINGS 87 (Martin 26, Ware 15, Vasiljevic 13) 

BOX SCORE