Hot Kings down JackJumpers in Hobart

The Sydney Kings are the hottest team in the NBL right now and they were able to blow the Tasmania JackJumper off the floor in the first half on Sunday on their way to the eventual 103-83 victory at MyState Bank Arena.

The JackJumpers were back in Hobart in front of their home fans fresh off a big win in Adelaide on Friday night to open Round 18 in the #NBL22 and having won six of their previous seven matches.

However, the Kings arrived fresh and on their own nine-match winning streak and they opened up on fire in the first half to set up what was an eventual 20-point win over the JackJumpers.

Josh Adams once again ended up top-scoring for the JackJumpers coming off setting a new franchise high with 31 points on Friday night. He finished Sunday's game with another 18 points to go with two rebounds, two assists and a steal.

MiKyle McIntosh battled hard all afternoon as well with 17 points and three rebounds on 6/11 shooting while captain Clint Steindl produced 12 points and four rebounds.

Sam McDaniel provided a spark against the tide too and finished with 11 points and seven rebounds with Josh Magette contributing 10 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists, and Jack McVeigh 10 points, three boards, two assists and two steals.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth knows his team got outplayed on the day, but won't let it define their season.

"Congratulations to them, they've obviously got a dynamite team and are super talented across the board," Roth said. 

"They played obviously very well, we just were never really in the game and statistically, they smashed us in just about every category. They did a hell of a job and as I told these guys after the game, this doesn’t define our season by any means. 

"It's just one of the games that we'll end up playing and we've got four more to go. We just move on and continue to build."

After a rough shooting first half, the JackJumpers' numbers ended up at a respectable 35 per cent from the field and 12/40 from downtown hitting 10 of their last 24 attempts. 

They also remarkably took 21 more shots than the Kings for the game and had eight more offensive rebounds, and forced Sydney into 19 turnovers. Ultimately though, Sydney shooting 60 per cent from the field and getting to the line 34 times made them tough to overcome.

Jaylen Adams top-scored for Tasmania with 20 points with Xavier Cooks adding 14, Jarell Martin 13, Angus Glover 11 and DJ Vasiljevic 10.

It was far from the ideal start for the JackJumpers with the Kings coming into MyState Bank Arena and scoring the game's opening seven points. As has become a common theme, Jack McVeigh scored first again for the JackJumpers to break that run by Sydney.

Josh Magette then scored Tasmania's second bucket of the game but soon after Sydney went up 15-4 in what had been a remarkable opening from the visitors.

MiKyle McIntosh came on to give the JackJumpers an immediate boost knocking down a three. He scored again in the mid-range too, the problem was the Kings just were rolling and went on to lead 30-14 by the end of one.

Things didn’t get much better to start the second period with the Kings again scoring the opening four points before Sam McDaniel scored for the JackJumpers. McDaniel was the one trying to provide the spark making another couple of free-throws and converting an and-one play.

For a moment the JackJumpers were back within 13 as a result of McDaniel's efforts, but out of a timeout the Kings hit back-to-back threes from Josh Adams, and a long jumper from Ian Clark and they turned that into a 57-29 advantage at half-time.

To Tasmania's credit they fought the game out strongly. While they could never quite get back closer to seriously threaten the Kings, they did put up 27 points in each of the third and fourth quarters.

That saw the JackJumpers outscore the Kings 54 points to 46 in the second half even if it only brought the final deficit to 20 points in the finish.

The JackJumpers now remain at home to host the Cairns Taipans on Friday night back at MyState Bank Arena.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 18

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 83 (Adams 18, McIntosh 17, Steindl 12)

SYDNEY KINGS 103 (Adams 20, Cooks 14, Martin 13) 

BOX SCORE