Illawarra continue to take the best shots from their opposition and assume control, with the NBL leaders doing it again in a 102-84 road win over Brisbane.
The Hawks found themselves down double-figures in the second quarter at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Friday night, and were still down by six midway through the third.
From there, they outscored the Bullets 47-23 for the 18-point win to see them remain clear in top spot at 13-5 having won five straight.
The Bullets had won five of their previous six averaging 111.6 points, while the Hawks arrived on a four-game winning run scoring 111.2.
That pointed to a high-scoring spectacle, which looked likely early on.
Illawarra scored the game's first eight points before the Bullets responded with 19 of the next 26, posting 34 points in their best first quarter of the season.
Brisbane pushed their lead to double figures in the second term, but Tyler Harvey finished the half with eight quick points to help the Hawks cut the Bullets' lead to two.
Illawarra regained the lead midway through the third period when Trey Kell made his first three of the night in a 14-0 run.
The Hawks finished the third quarter scoring 27 of the last 34 points to go from six points down to leading by 14 to set up the 18-point win.
They shot 49 per cent and added 32 points from Brisbane's 22 turnovers.
Kell finished with 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals, Harvey 17 points and four rebounds, Sam Froling 15 points and 12 boards, and Davo Hickey 12 points and four assists.
Hawks coach Justin Tatum did his best to keep his team fresh after their Christmas night win over Sydney.
"I just told the guys to stick with it and that I was going to use all 10 or 11 guys in that first quarter because I wanted to make sure we stayed as fresh as possible for the second half," he said.
"We didn’t want to allow 34 points in the first quarter but I was glad we were able to sustain it and the guys got their rhythm, and groove to be able to finish the game."
The Bullets couldn’t quite continue their winning ways in the absence of James Batemon, Rocco Zikarsky and Deng Adel despite 28 points from Casey Prather.
Brisbane managed just 34 points after halftime. Josh Bannan had 17 points, Isaac White 10 and Tyrell Harrison nine with nine rebounds.
Bullets coach Justin Schueller saw the 22 turnovers and just nine assists sticking out in the loss.
"(Nine) assists for us isn’t us on the offensive end, and I felt the ball really stuck a lot tonight," he said.
"When we've been at our best it's when everyone's doing their little part, keeping the ball off the deck and execution at a high.
"The 22 turnovers comes when you're not executing and we just need more guys to step up across the board."
