NZ Breakers have split their opening two games of the Australian NBL, falling to an 89-84 defeat against Brisbane Bullets at Auckland's Spark Arena.
Brisbane guard Nathan Sobey led all scorers with 24 points, while Kiwi centre Tyrell Harrison brought 12 points/eight rebounds - including five at the offensive end - off the bench for the visitors, who led by as many as nine points in the third quarter.
Breakers guards Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Will McDowell-White combined for 39 points, but the home side missed the presence of Tall Blacks star Finn Delany, who was a gametime scratching with injury.
Up by two points with eight seconds left, Brisbane import Chris Smith banked a fall-away prayer as the shot clock expired to seal the win, their second in as many games to start the new season.
The Bullets led at each of the quarter breaks, but the Breakers enjoyed an 18-6 run that gave them a three-point lead in the final quarter, before the visitors rallied down the stretch. Six unanswered points put them back in control, but Izayah Leafa's three-pointer brought the Breakers within a point with 1m 24s remaining - they were his team's last points of the contest.
"From the start, we were reactive - I was very reactive," lamented McDowell-White, who missed the season-opener with injury and seemed to suffer heavy contact to his hand in the first half. "I can't blame it for not being out there for so long, we just need to punch first."
Foul trouble kept the Breakers on the backfoot all night and Brisbane eventually shot 10 more free throws from 15 more attempts, while their bench outscored their rivals 32-11
The Breakers now take a break from their ANBL schedule to take on Portland Trailblazers next Wednesday and Utah Jazz six days later.
Brisbane Bullets 89 (Sobey 24, Scott 17, Harrison 12, Baynes 11) NZ Breakers 84 (Jackson-Cartwright 20, McDowell-White 19, Cheatham 17, Abercrombie 13)
