'Beast awoken' inside Jaylen Adams

Former two-time All-First Team member Lamar Patterson saw a beast awoken inside 2022 MVP Jaylen Adams for the Brisbane Bullets, as he produced 20 fourth quarter points on Friday night.

After a mixed start to NBL26 with the Bullets, Adams came off the bench for both games in three days on either side of the country this week, after a passive 13 points and four assists in last Saturday night's 27-point loss to the Illawarra Hawks.

He still had six assists in 17 minutes in Wednesday's win in Perth and showed no signs of disenchantment coming off the bench again.

Then with 6:35 to go in the game and Brisbane down 20 after a timeout, the 2022 MVP turned the game like few players can.

He ended scoring 15 points as part of an 18-1 run and made three triples and scored 20 points in total in the fourth quarter. He finished with 29 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2blocks on 10/15 shooting from the field and 4/6 from deep.

While it didn’t quite lead to a win, coach Stu Lash was delighted for Adams to deliver that type of performance.

"Sometimes people forget this is a former MVP of this league and he knows what big moments are, and when players need to step up," Lash said.

"He just hadn’t really found that rhythm yet and it's no excuses, but we've had so many line-up changes and guys in and out, and guys playing different roles.

"While he's a baller, he's not this uber alpha who always wants to do it himself, and his natural inclination is to make plays for others and then seize the moment when he needs to.

"Like anybody, confidence is important and hopefully he takes that from tonight that this is what we need from him.

"I'm happy for Jaylen because it's been a tough couple of weeks for him just finding his footing with everything we're doing, but he responded big time."

Patterson is also embracing his opportunities at the Bullets in a starting role stepping up since the departure of Javon Freeman-Liberty, and feels Adams is now only just getting started in Brisbane.

"I was very happy with our fight and even during the game when we were down, it didn’t feel like they were just better than us," Patterson said.

"It just felt like we weren’t playing good and when that happens, it just takes one quick run to turn this thing around.

"That's what I was trying to preach to the guys and as for JA, I think he's here now. It woke up a beast in him and it's going to be good going forward."