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TASMANIA is bordering on becoming the NBL's "island of irrelevancy" after dropping its road game 77-80 to a Brisbane minus the drive of its scoring wizard Nathan Sobey, but with import Chris Smith reinforcing his bona fides as a player better than a "Sixth Man of the Year" candidate.

Whether the JackJumpers mentally took a foot off the accelerator with the news Sobey (knee) would miss the game or if their recent woes are of greater concern, in the end it didn't matter.

It came down to a single play and Smith drove the dagger that pulled the Bullets to 10-11 while bringing the Jackies into the danger zone at 11-10.

Despite not having Sobey's 20.4ppg and with coach Justin Schueller still making what appeared to be some crazed substitutions that even looked to frustrate the players involved, Brisbane throughout maintained the upper hand, albeit never by much.

Inside the last five minutes, Casey Prather - who played just 7:56 - hit a shot to have Brisbane 73-65 clear. Of course he was subbed out at the next opportunity.

Jack McVeigh drove to cut the deficit to six, then Will Magnay against his original club delivered the following five points to draw Tasmania to 72-73.

Magnay had 11 points but could have been more impactful had he not gone 7-of-12 from the free throw line.

Josh Bannan gave Brisbane breathing space at 75-72 but the signs of a Bullie-wobble were there yet again when Milton Doyle calmly slotted a 3-point bucket to tie the game, little more than a minute left.

Bannan's dunk made it 77-75 inside the final 20 seconds but Jordon Crawford raced the ball forward and laid it in for 77-77 with 12.6 seconds to go.

Schueller took a time-out to advance the ball and fashion the last play, Tasmania with two fouls to give before going into bonus which, surely, should have been stressed in the JackJumpers' huddle.

Clearly, it was not.

Brisbane inbounded the ball and Smith stared down quality defender Anthony Drmic with some shake-and-bake as the clock clicked down.

He then rose and sank a 3-pointer over Drmic's outstretched arm to give Brisbane the win 80-77. Sure, there was still 1.0 second on the clock but the Ants came up empty on McVeigh's triple attempt.

Why didn't they foul? Who knows? It really looked as if they didn't know, which would be a major minus for their usually reliable coaching staff.

While Brisbane quietly continues on its upward amble, Tassie is marching in the wrong direction and giving the appearance, at least, of something being not quite right in the camp. With any luck, it's merely a temporary glitch but from 8-5, they have gone 3-5 since early last month.

BRISBANE BULLETS 80 (Smith 19, Harrison 13, Bannan, McDaniel 12; Harrison, McDaniel, Bannan 7 rebs; Scott 5 assts) d TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 77 (Doyle 19, McVeigh 17, Crawford 13, Magnay 11; Lee 7 rebs; Doyle 3 assts) at Nissan Arena. Crowd: 4,486