The Brisbane Bullets have continued their late-season form surge after a commanding second half drove them to a 103-86 win over the Illawarra Hawks.
Sixth man Tyler Johnson top-scored with 23 points at the WIN Entertainment Centre on Saturday, 15 of them coming in the last 14 minutes, to steer the resurgent Bullets to a third successive win.
Rival import guard Tyler Harvey scored 22 points for the Hawks, who were outscored 23-19 and 30-19 across the final two quarters after being virtually neck-and-neck at halftime.
The rubber may have been dead, these two bottom-ranked teams long out of finals contention, but the pace was hot, especially in the first half.
American forward Andrew White III hit his first six shots and Aron Baynes was active early as the Bullets made a focus on feeding their frontcourt to move ahead 24-20 at quartertime.
Despite having issues covering Brisbane's pick-and-roll, the Hawks kept the scoreboard ticking at the other end from the perimeter as the second term comprised multiple lead changes.
Harvey, Illawarra's last-second hero in Auckland on Thursday, continued his lethal form from outside with 16 first-half points, while Deng Deng fired 10 points inside four minutes before the long break to give the Hawks a narrow lead.
Baynes underpinned a 14-2 run either side of halftime to put the Bullets back in front and they were never again headed.
Harvey suddenly found the going tough in the face of the immense physical pressure Brisbane applied on him.
Meanwhile at the other end, former NBA guard Johnson got red-hot and, with some help from big Harry Froling, piloted the Bullets' powerful second half.
