IN A crucial game for a pair of teams that were in dire need of a victory, the Brisbane Bullets proved too strong for the Cairns Taipans when the two Queensland-based National Basketball League (NBL) went head to head last night.

The Bullets hosted the Taipans at Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Thursday night, with the home side marred by inconsistency over recent weeks. Although they had found wins in the past month, the Bullets could not turn these into a streak and any sort of momentum, which was preventing Brisbane from moving into the top portion of the ladder.

On the other hand, the Taipans’ last win came against the Sydney Kings back in September, and the competition’s northernmost team has slumped to the bottom of the ladder of late. Admittedly, injury troubles had not helped, but the Taipans were regaining the services of million-dollar man Jack McVeigh, who was sidelined with a wrist injury of late.

Although it was a close start to proceedings, the Taipans simply lacked the firepower to keep up with the Bullets, who showed their offensive cohesion with a commanding scoring performance, cruising home to a 28-point victory to start their weekend in style.

Brisbane Bullets (113) def. Cairns Taipans (85)

Despite a drop in form to start the season, the Taipans offensive production looked as good as it had been in NBL26 to start the game, putting the pressure on the Bullets to answer as Cairns showed impressive shotmaking to challenge the home side. At the end of the first term, it was the visitors who led by two points in an incredibly promising start.

The see-sawing style of play continued into the second frame, with 25 lead changes in the first half reflective of the high-scoring nature of the game. It was looking like the contest was going to head into half time extremely even, before the Bullets put the foot down to close out the second quarter, bursting away on a 10-0 run to break the game open and head into the main change with a double-digit lead in hand.

Brisbane kept the foot down in the third quarter, showing a relentless nature on the offensive end with their willingness to generate second chance scoring opportunities. The game began to slip away from the Taipans after a promising first quarter, and although the visitors clawed the margin back to single-digits, they let themselves down with some untimely turnovers, as the Bullets still led by 12 points with 10 minutes to play.

The Bullets wasted no time to start the fourth quarter, with Casey Prather stealing the ball and throwing down a powerful slam to truly break the game open once and for all. Brisbane had its way in the final quarter, getting its big names involved to close out the contest in style and record one of its most emphatic wins of the season.

MVP contender Prather put together yet another strong performance, stuffing the stat sheet with 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals, playing a vital role in getting the Bullets to victory after quarter time. He worked well in tandem with big man Tyrell Harrison, who took advantage of his Cairns counterpart in Marcus Lee fouling out, pouring in 21 points, eight boards and two blocks of his own.

Although the result did not go his team’s way, McVeigh was still impressive in his return, posting a game-high 25 points to go with five rebounds and six assists, while import point guard Andrew Andrews delivered a double-double of 11 points and 10 assists in a productive showing.