Basketball On The Internet.

STARTING in his milestone 400th NBL game, Mitch Norton delivered an 11-point, 9-assist extravaganza which not only halted Brisbane's recent slide but sent South East Melbourne back to the drawing board, two of its imports continuing to underperform and coach Josh King with plenty on his mind.

That said, so too will Will Weaver after the Bullets supremo saw first his back-up big man Jacob Holt severely injure his ankle and not long after, star centre Tyrell Harrison crunching his.

Both ankle injuries looked bad, the type where it's if you saw it the first time, look away from the action replay or cringe and gasp. Unfortunately for the Phoenix, they could not capitalise as both Jordan Hunter (fatherhood) and Hunter Goodrick (injured) were not in uniform, while Yannis Morin (2 pts, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks in 15 minutes) continued to struggle.

So too South East's import "shooter" D'Shawn Schwartz who delivered eight points of 2-of-7 shooting.

If not for the relentless efforts of Angus Glover (27 points at 64 per cent), morale-boosting drives and desperate defensive work, this could have been much uglier than Phoenix fans may have hoped.

In the injury-forced absence of Lithuanian playmaker Arnas Velicka, Norton was elevated back to starting and from the moment he drove to open the night's scoring, it was obvious he was up for the challenge.

Skylar Mays (20 points, 6 assists), Tanner Krebs and Dash Daniels with 12 points apiece and Nathan Sobey (15 points) battled gamely after Brisbane bolted to a 30-24 buffer after one.

SEM was within a point by halftime and still in the hunt late, Max Mackinnon (24 points at 50 per cent, 4-of-8 threes, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, a steal) a Bullets stand-out. Import Jaylin Williams also loacted his stroke, his 19 points at a sizzling 73 per cent.

Lat Mayen (14 points at 75 per cent) also had a huge impact and Nate Hinton came home strongly to finish with 16 points, one of seven Bullets in double digits.

This most definitely was a game where offence won but Brisbane's wretched luck continued, everyone now waiting on the severity of the injuries to Harrison and Holt.

Round 5 Results, Thursday

Brisbane Bullets 115 (Mackinnon 24, Williams 19, Hinton 16, Mayen, Harrison 14, Holt 13, Norton 11; Mackinnon 8 rebs; Norton 9 assts) d South East Melbourne Phoenix 105 (Glover 27, Mays 20, Sobey 15, Krebs, Daniels 12; Krebs 8 rebs; Mays 6 assts) at Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall

Friday: Adelaide at Tasmania