WHAT a weekend of basketball fans were treated to. The National Basketball League (NBL) action for Round 18 continued into Sunday, with yet another double-header taking place over the course of the afternoon. Saturday saw some cracking contests take place, and that trend kept rolling into the following day. The most entertaining match of the round ended up being the Brisbane Bullets‘ thrilling win over the Adelaide 36ers when the two sides locked horns yesterday afternoon. With the two sides unable to make the upcoming finals series, it may have been shaping up to be a dead rubber, but instead, both sides showed plenty of hustle and determination for all four quarters of play. It was a match that went right down to the wire, with the Bullets just holding on to claim a ripping one-point win, among their best for the season.

Brisbane Bullets (92) def. Adelaide 36ers (91)

The Bullets were able to produce one of their most impressive victories of the 2021/22 season, taking down the 36ers by just one point at Nissan Arena on Sunday afternoon. Both sides came in off disappointing losses earlier in the round, and were looking for a better performance here. In a see-sawing affair, it was pretty hard to predict which side would emerge victorious, as the lead changed hands a number of time. When Adelaide was able to bring themselves within one point with 40 seconds on the clock, the result could have gone either way. Brisbane was able to hold on by a matter of milliseconds, with an Adelaide game-winner ruled to have been fired off after time expired.

The home side got off to a ripping start, as they managed to conjure baskets from both inside the paint and beyond the arc. NBL next star Tom Digbeu got involved with a couple of buckets inside as the Bullets got rolling with a four-point quarter time lead. The message was simple for the 36ers at quarter time; get the ball moving. Once they began to flick it around a bit more, it resulted in the Bullets defence ending up on the back foot, and some easy baskets came. The lead was trimmed back to one point at the main break, setting up a blockbuster second half.

Adelaide’s momentum continued into the second half, with the visitors taking the lead early in the third term. It was a clinical display on both ends of the floor, with the 36ers’ interior defence lifting and bringing the opposition offence to a halt. The Bullets could not keep up on the scoreboard, and it wasn’t until Tanner Krebs converted his and-one that they were able to get their game going again. There were some big buckets in the final quarter of play, particularly in the last four minutes. Robert Franks chimed in for some crucial baskets, as did teammate Lamar Patterson, with the star duo demonstrating their class late in the contest. Trailing by one point in the closing seconds, Adelaide fired up a couple of shots to try and steal victory, with the second finding the bottom of the net, courtesy of Sunday Dech. However, it was ruled to be after the siren, so the Bullets were able to claim the thrilling win.

For the victors, Jason Cadee led from the front with a team-high 26 points and five assists, generating plenty of offence whenever his side needed. His best work came from behind the arc, pouring in a whopping seven three pointers, with Brisbane looking to get him open wherever possible. Franks was also great, finishing with a double-double of 17 points and 12 boards, while Patterson had 14 points of his own. For the 36ers, Daniel Johnson could not have done much more, delivering a game-high 28 points and eight rebounds on some pretty efficient shooting in a typically strong outing for the forward.

The Sydney Kings have regained second spot on the ladder with a big win over the Tasmania JackJumpers at MyState Bank Arena on Sunday afternoon. The JackJumpers were fresh off a nice win earlier in Round 18, but Sydney was simply a class above when the two sides faced off, delivering a magnificent first half performance behind a near triple-double from Xavier Cooks.