Sobey scored 30 points in Sunday's all-Queensland battle at Melbourne's John Cain Arena as the Bullets scored their second win on the trot and improved to a 5-5 win-loss record.

Brisbane produced their highest-scoring first half of the season with Sobey piling on 18 points in a 60-51 start before Cam Oliver answered the call for Cairns with 14 points in the third quarter.

But Anthony Drmic (20 points, five-of-five three-pointers) and Harry Froling (15 points, 11 rebounds) came up big for the Bullets as the Taipans crashed to their third loss in a row.

The 30-year-old Sobey has played stellar basketball since missing out on Australia's Olympics squad for the Tokyo Games but coach Andrej Lemanis felt he had grown more comfortable with the Bullets following his move from Adelaide in 2019.

"I thought last year he had to overcome all that and that stopped him from being the player that we are seeing now," Lemanis said.

"I think he's had a fantastic off-season but what he's also done is matured and relaxed, and he's taking on some of the leadership role."

Import forward Vic Law led the Bullets to a dramatic overtime victory over Cairns back in round three but his night ended in controversial circumstances on this occasion, exiting the game early in the fourth quarter after picking up a second technical foul.

Law was hit with his first technical in the second quarter but the Bullets believed the foul counted towards their bench as he was in the process of being substituted.

But in Law's absence, the Bullets lifted to outrebound Cairns 45-28 and outscore their bench 51-26.

"Any time you give up 60 in the first half and 115 over four quarters, there's a problem," Taipans coach Mike Kelly said about his squad's defensive effort.

"The guys are aware that it's an issue ... we've tried to get lineups in that will defend the way we want to defend but we didn't get it done tonight."

Cairns won an entertaining opening quarter 28-25 but important contributions from Froling and Orlando Johnson saw the Bullets outscore Cairns 35-23 in the second term and grab a nine-point lead at halftime.

Brisbane's lead grew to 16 early in the second half but Oliver tried to inspire the Taipans with one of his trademark dunks along with two longs bombs.

But it was not enough as Brisbane built a 86-73 edge after three quarters and withstood a brief Cairns challenge following Law's ejection, Drmic ending the contest with back-to-back triples to close the night with a perfect 5-of-5 shooting effort from long distance.

Australian Associated Press