Brisbane's Boondall homecoming has been crashed by Sydney, Xavier Cooks slicing up the Bullets in a one-sided 91-82 NBL win.
Cooks (23 points, seven rebounds, five assists) did as he pleased for the Kings on Saturday, exposing the Bullets at both ends of a floor they won titles on in 1987 and again 20 years later.
Double the size of their old 5000-seat Nissan Arena home court, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre was bouncing when Casey Prather (17 points, five rebounds) began with a huge dunk and they led 17-15.
Brian Goorjian's side clicked into gear though, scoring the next 18 points to take the oxygen out of the building.
Turnovers - 16 in all - and low-pressure, disconnected defence had the Bullets staggering into halftime down 20 points, the hosts' three-of-23 shooting from long range also problematic.
The Bullets trailed by as many as 29 points, but scored the last 16 points of the contest to salvage some dignity.
"We had a little chat in the locker room about being better with the lead at the end of games," Goorjian said.
"The finish wasn't great, but really happy with the group and to get a win
"Xavier's such an important piece ... he's like a secondary point guard out there.
"Tonight, I thought, he was elite."
Brisbane, pre-season tournament champions, are now 0-3 while the Kings are 3-1.
Brisbane import guard James Batemon was scoreless at halftime and benched to begin the third quarter, but finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
Fellow starter Deng Adel was scoreless from five field goal attempts in his 15 minutes of action.
Centre Rocco Zikarski (11 points, five rebounds in 15 minutes) enjoyed some welcome minutes in the final quarter but it was Kings rookie Keli Leaupepe (22 points) who won the Next Stars battle with a mix of power and long-range precision.
Bullets coach Justin Schueller lamented "self-harming errors" as he attempted to cling to the positives.
"It felt like we were matching it pound for pound and came out in the second quarter and let bad offence dictate bad defence ... and that's our story right now," he said.
"It (their second half) gives me great hope for what we can become, but the frustration is that hole in the second quarter.
"Our gap between our good and not so good is so great right now."
The Bullets face South East Melbourne next Saturday, the Phoenix (0-4) facing similar struggles in what shapes as a grudge match since long-time Brisbane guard Nathan Sobey's off-season move south.
