Basketball On The Internet.

NATHAN Sobey returned from injury to lead Brisbane over Illawarra before the Sydney Kings turned their "Pink Hoops" day to raise breast cancer awareness and funding, into a sell-out success as they routed New Zealand in front of a record 16,605 crowd, Jaylen Adams scoring 39 points.

The result and the manner in which it was achieved restored the pride the Kings had been leaving in the locker-room and the belief that yes, given the right circumstances, this team can factor into post-season activities.

Having lost eight of their previous 11 games and five of their past six, it would be premature in the extreme to declare "they're back," yet despite coming out against the Breakers in their highly-criticised and mocked zone defensive alignment, by the first break they led 34-19.

That was their most points in a first quarter, Denzel Valentine on fire and Adams, who has been wayward and way awful from range, swished his first five 3-point attempts.

By halftime and smoking on a 63-34 lead - that's right, the Breakers had managed 34 points in two quarters to Sydney's 34 in one - the Kings now had their best scoring half of the season and had  Valentine sizzling for 20 points by the break.

While DV spent some time sitting and admiring the work of his teammates, Adams took over the scoring to have 21 by the break and this was over and done.

Adams smashed his previous career high and could have made it into the 40s - surely assistant coaches should be telling the boss how close he is so he can be left out there to achieve it - but coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah was generous in giving his benchies some time.

With DJ Hogg still out, his starting group of Adams, Valentine, Jaylin Galloway, Alex Toohey and Jordie Hunter (game high 10 rebounds) showed the way and Angus Glover (13 points, 4-of-6 threes) merrily followed suit.

New Zealand simply had no answers, stars Anthony Lamb, Zylan Cheatham and Mantas Rubstavicius mustering 18 points between them on 7-of-25 shooting.

If Izayah Le'afa hadn't rediscovered his shot for 15 points and Cam Gliddon hadn't knocked down 4-of-5 threes in 13 minutes, this would have been even worse but still, easily, the Breakers' worst performance this season - and last. 

BRISBANE BULLETS 110 (Sobey 25, Smith 19, Harrison, Norton 18, White 12; Harriuson 7 rebs; Scott 6 assts) d ILLAWARRA HAWKS 103 (Harvey 29, Froling, Robinson 15, Clark 13; Clark 8 rebs; Robinson, Clark 3 assts) at Nissan Arena. Crowd: 5,200

SOBEY was sidelined with injury when his team rallied to beat Tasmania earlier in the round so he must have been inspired to show the Bullets he still was a necessary commodity when they hosted Illawarra.

He didn't leave many doubters, banging in 22 first-half points to set the scene for Brisbane to win its fourth straight game for the first time since Andrej Lemanis was in nappies.

While the Hawks under Justin Tatum are too good now to fold like a house of cards, they hung around throughout but never looked like producing the aces necessary to overpower Brisbane.

Tyler Harvey's 29 points were impressive, as was his 6-of-11 return from 3-point territory. But the Bullets defence messed sufficiently with Sam Froling to talk him out of taking mid-range shots when he was open.

Lachlan Olbrich again sparked the Hawks with eight points on 4-of-4 shooting but Brisbane came at Illawarra in different ways, Chris Smith's 19 points at 60 per cent, Tyrell Harrison with 18 at 63, plus seven rebounds and three blocks.

Two minutes left and Illawarra bringing the deficit back to 93-101, Isaac White nailed a 3-pointer and no further correspondence needing entering into.

Mitch Norton also enjoyed his most productive offensive game since switching to the Bullets, his 18 points at 63 per cent including 2-of-3 threes.   

SYDNEY KINGS 105 (Adams 39, Valentine 23, Glover 13; Hunter 10 rebs; Valentine 5 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 76 (Le'afa 15, Gliddon, Jackson-Cartwright 12, McDowell-White 10; Mathiang 5 rebs; Lamb 5 assts) at Qudos Bank Arena. Crowd: 16,605