Brisbane Bullets lose a thriller to New Zealand Breakers on the buzzer
Brisbane Bullets were 30 seconds away from a desperately-needed victory against the New Zealand Breakers before Lamar Patterson went from hero to zero in an instant.
Basketball
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Brisbane’s season hangs in the balance following a heartbreaking 99-96 loss to the Scotty Hopson-inspired New Zealand Breakers at Nissan Arena on Friday night.
Hopson (27 points, six rebounds, four assists) silenced the Armoury with his buzzer-beating triple handing the Breakers just their second road victory of the season.
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It looked like Brisbane’s night from the get-go, with Nathan Sobey and Lamar Patterson starring as the Bullets fired off a brilliant first quarter in front of 4069 fans.
Sobey topscored for the game with 29 points while Patterson (21 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) looked destined for a triple-double before going from hero to zero in a last-minute horror show.
The American import sank a floater to hand Brisbane a 96-94 lead with 33 seconds remaining following Finn Delany’s game-levelling three-pointer and looked to have saved the game again by forcing Delany out of bounds with 20 seconds to play.
But it wasn’t to be for Patterson, with the 28-year-old committing an unsportsmanlike foul trying to prevent a turnover in the dying seconds, leaving veteran Breakers swingman Tom Abercrombie to put away both free throws before Hopson’s ice-cold matchwinner.
“It’s great (to get) a road win, a game winner,” Hopson said.
“They played such good basketball and they made it hard but I made a great shot tonight so just glad we got the win.”
Will Magnay was impressive for the Bullets with eight rebounds and four blocks, including a monstrous fourth-quarter effort that lifted the Armoury, while Matt Hodgson put his best foot forward in a season-best opening quarter.
Brisbane did suffer in their absence, with the Breakers scoring freely when either of them rested on the bench.
The loss leaves Brisbane languishing at eighth on the NBL ladder and facing a mountain to climb back into finals contention.
NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 99 (S Hopson 27 F Delany 18 R Loe 14) d BRISBANE BULLETS 96 (N Sobey 27 L Patterson 21 E Singler 9) at Nissan Arena.
Originally published as Brisbane Bullets lose a thriller to New Zealand Breakers on the buzzer