Randle had all the answers in the second half as he finished with more than a third of the 36ers' points, finishing with 34 after having just 11 at the half.

Randle was helped by a career game from Nathan Sobey (21) who helped make up for the loss of star swingman and captain Mitch Creek to injury.

Former Chicago Bull Bairstow had seven first quarter points off the bench in his return to the court from an arm injury sustained at the Rio Olympics, and was force to be reckoned with inside the paint in every minute he played in the first period as Brisbane took a slender 23-21 lead into the first break, Bairstow finished the match with 15 points and seven rebounds.

Brisbane coach Andrej Lemanis said he liked what he saw from his star recruit, even if he tired in the second half.

"After being out for so long it just takes a bit of time to find the rhythm and the pace of the game again and I thought in the first quarter he looked like that, someone who had been out for a bit, and it just took him some time to find his way back into the game and I thought second quarter he started to do that and he provided a good target for us down there," he said.

"In the second half though I thought it showed again that he hadn't played and he started to run out of gas pretty quickly, and so played tired and I probably played him too long in those bursts so we should have subbed him out a bit sooner.

"Again that's my fault an awareness that when you haven't played for whatever it is, six weeks, fatigue is going to set in pretty quickly.

"We should have played him in shorter bursts but he showed what he is going to be able to do for us, certainly good presence around the rim, moves well with the ball and off the ball and he is great on the glass."

Tom Jervis made the first basket of the game for Brisbane and was dominant on the boards in the first half with 7 rebounds, and 12 points to pace the Bullets at the break as they went in with a 10 point lead 48-38.

But a plucky Adelaide stayed in the match, Randle almost single handedly keeping the 36ers in the match, playing a lone hand in the third quarter with 12 points, two assists and two rebounds, helping Adelaide close the margin to five going into the final period with the score at 64-59.

Sharpshooting import Jermaine Beal has quickly become a fan favourite in Brisbane, and the former Wildcat continued to grow his Queensland fan base with another standout performance, the sold out crowd at the Exhibition Centre hanging on every outside shot he took as he tallied 21 points.

Fellow import Torrey Craig saved his best quarter for last, tallying 18 through the final quarter and overtime periods after having just four at the end of the third.

Craig's final quarter efforts punctuated by a thunderous block to deny Randle a game tying basket with under two minutes to play.

Randle would get the tying basket he was after though as he outpaced Anthony Petrie off a pick and roll and glided to the basket to tie the scores at 83-all with 30 seconds to play.

Randle had the chance to ice the game with a second to play but his long distance three point attempt clanged off the rim and the teams went into overtime with scores locked at 83-all.

The final opportunity coming after Brisbane's Beal missed his chance to finish the game, forcing a rushed three point attempt after the Bullets almost squandered the possession.

Adelaide got the best of the overtime exchanges to come away with hard fought 96-93 upset victory to inflict the first loss of the season on the Bullets whose record now stand at 2-1.

Adelaide coach Joey Wright said the come-from-behind victory was a testament to his team's self belief and their ability to hang in games after they trailed by as much as 11 points in the fourth quarter.

"In addition to our captain being out, who has just had a real stellar pre-season for us, these guys, for them to rock up, nobody thinking we can win, and for them to be down and not quit, just shows a lot about their character," he said.

Wright was full of praise for the man of the match performance from Randle.

"He was outstanding, I mean his ability to create shots for himself and others is who he is, and what we've got to get, so when he is doing that we are very hard to stop, he played 38 minutes tonight, that's a tough ask," he said.

Lemanis said his team would look to execute better on both ends going forward into Thursday's match against a Melbourne United team who are coming off a 95-83 victory over Illawarra.

"I guess there was a lack of urgency on the defensive end, when we got that lead and then they kind of came charging at us I thought we gave up too many just easy scores, and some stuff on the back of second effort plays," he said.

"On the offensive end it's a symptom of a team that is brand new and hasn't played together yet, we struggle to find a consistency at the moment as to what we're going to run when we need a basket to just settle the game a little bit, we play a little flustered and frantic, rather than just letting the ball do some work and being comfortable with what our home base offence is, that's all going to come with time.

"This is one of those games we've got to learn from and keep getting better and building, we need to be better on Thursday night, we are going down to play a very good team in Melbourne and it's a good opportunity for us to bounce back."