There is more than one way to win, and the Brisbane Bullets tinkered with multiple weapons before settling on a successful combination in their 90-74 NBL victory against the Cairns Taipans.
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They recovered from a slow start to christen their new home at the Queensland State Netball Centre in style on Friday, led by a 21-point, five-assist performance from point guard Nathan Sobey.
The Bullets dropped three of their four games against the Taipans last season and for a time it looked like Cairns once again had their opponents measure.
Brisbane coach Andrej Lemanis initially trusted his smalls to get the job done but had to try almost every option at his disposal.
Centre Matthew Hodgson imposed himself in the second half to finish with 14 points, three blocks and four rebounds.
He was one of a handful of Bullets, including bench player EJ Singler (10 points) to energise the home side after halftime.
The one constant was former Adelaide star Sobey who looked at home in a Brisbane singlet after just two games.
Brisbane's guard-heavy starting line-up handed the visitors a physical edge and they were fortunate not to be behind by more than three points at quarter time.
With star import Lamar Patterson playing as a forward, the Bullets conceded muscle as the Taipans established a 12-7 rebounding advantage.
Majok Deng is no heavyweight, but his athleticism and touch around the ring was a major point of difference for the Taipans.
Then of course there was Nathan Jawai's 135kg frame for whom Brisbane had no obvious counter.
But it didn't last. Big man Hodgson stood up to the Taipans' talls and was far more of an influential figure in the second half.
Scott Machado had 16 points and 11 assists for Cairns but could do little to hold off the fast-finishing Bullets.
"That's a reflection of how, as a team, we will actually be good this year. We play deep...we have lots of talent,'' Lemanis said.
"What we can do is sustain a level over the course of 40 minutes which is hopefully difficult for other teams to sustain.
"We keep coming at you, keep coming at you and somewhere in there we feel like we can break it open a little bit...and give us a little bit of an edge.''
The Taipans were without DJ Newbill who was battling a shoulder injury but he is expected to face Illawarra on Monday night.
Coach Mike Kelly expects more teams to throw a variety of weapons at his team this season.
"It's us continually being able to deal with chaos," Kelly said
"We didn't do a good job of that in the second half."
Australian Associated Press
