Vukona fires as Bullets win

The brave new era of Breakers basketball has started on a bum note, with Kiwi reject Mika Vukona exacting a satisfying dose of retribution at Spark Arena last night.

The first word, if not the last laugh, went to the veteran Tall Blacks forward who rejected a downgraded role from the Breakers for this season to shift to the Bullets. That saw the 36-year-old reunited with former coach Andrej Lemanis who no doubt promised his new addition all the minutes he could handle.

Vukona would have been rapt to walk off Spark with an 86-73 upset victory in the Australian NBL season opener, the hard-nosed big man chipping in with nine points (4/4 FG) and five rebounds in 17 quality minutes off the bench, before fouling out late.

"Sometimes you need a change of environment," Vukona had said in the leadup. "You have to start again and prove to them you can still play. The fire’s in the belly and I want to prove a lot more."

The Bullets certainly proved plenty as, behind a game-high 29 points (8/13 FG, 5/10 3PT) from the sharpshooting Cameron Gliddon, they roared back from a three-point halftime deficit to coast to a deserved victory.

The visitors dropped 13 three-pointers (from 27 points), added a dozen offensive rebounds and put the second-half squeeze on the Breakers who played the final two quarters as though they were running through mud.