The Sydney Kings have moved to third position on the NBL ladder after a gritty 91-86 victory over the Brisbane Bullets.
After trailing at every change at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Saturday night, the Kings mowed down the Bullets with a 22-15 final quarter.
Former league MVPs Jaylen Adams (21 points, eight assists) and Xavier Cooks (19 points) led the charge for Sydney (13-9), who moved past Tasmania on the table.
"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."
Casey Prather had 18 points and 11 boards for seventh-placed Brisbane (9-11), but his shooting (7-of-23 from the floor) was wayward.
Big men Josh Bannan (13 points, 13 rebounds) and Tyrell Harrison (12, 14) smashed the Kings on the boards, but the home side went cold down the stretch, hitting four-of-23 in the final term to crash to their third successive defeat.
The Bullets unveiled new import Josh Adams, who signed during the week as an injury replacement for fellow American James Batemon (hamstring).
Adams, who last played in the league in 2022 as an inaugural member of the Tasmania JackJumpers, dished an assist for Prather with his first touch, before splashing a three with his first shot.
But it was his namesake and rival import guard, Jaylen Adams, who lit up the first half and kept the Kings in the hunt.
He bombed a huge three-pointer on the quarter-time horn to reduce Brisbane’s lead to 29-28 before finishing the half with 16 points to limit the Bullets’ advantage to 48-45 at the long break.
Brisbane, paced by Prather, hit 9-of-18 first-half three-pointers while dominating Sydney in rebounds (27-14) and assists (10-5).
The Bullets continued to dominate 14-6 on the glass in the third period, but the Kings, despite their rebounding woes, were clinical with their finishing in the paint, ensuring Brisbane’s buffer was only two points at the last change.
"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."
