JackJumpers end 2022 with tough loss to Kings

The Tasmania JackJumpers weren't quite able to end 2022 on a high losing on the road to the Sydney Kings on Friday night, but focus has already turned to hosting the South East Melbourne Phoenix on New Year's Day.

It was the second Grand Final rematch of NBL23 and added intrigue given what happened earlier this month with Sydney up 14 early in the fourth before Tasmania turned the tide to outscore them by 22 the rest of the way.

Add in Chase Buford's suspension and the Kings were led by Kevin Lisch for the first time in front of 12,467 fans at Qudos Bank Arena and the stage was set for another fascinating contest.

It was a high-scoring opening quarter too and not only were the JackJumpers able to keep pace with the Kings, but they led by one at quarter-time. However, the Kings could keep it going and Tasmania couldn’t quite.

Sydney shot a phenomenal 73 per cent for the first half to open up a double-digit advantage, the Kings then pushed that lead out to 17 in the third quarter and 18 with a Shaun Bruce three to open the fourth before cruising to the 97-77 point victory.

The result improves the Kings to a 13-5 record to retain top spot while the JackJumpers are now 10-9 and clinging to their place in the top six.

Tasmania just didn’t have an answer for the offensive performance from the Kings. Captain Clint Steindl was a positive top-scoring with 13 points and two steals with Sean Macdonald hitting three triples on his way to 11 points, two assists and two steals.

Isaac White contributed nine points, Milton Doyle nine and Rashard Kelly eight.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth just simply felt the Kings were too good on the night.

"Congratulations to Kevin for his debut as a head coach, a good job on their part and the whole mindset of those guys was fantastic," Roth said. 

"They just got after us and it was an old-fashioned butt whooping, there's not really much more to say than that. They were much more aggressive and we just got our butt handed to us."

DJ Vasiljevic talked up his desire to shoot his way out of a self-diagnosed slump coming into the game and he got the perfect start. He converted a three-point play, then hit a three-pointer and the Kings were up 6-0.

Tasmania responded with the next seven points including five of those to Jack McVeigh before Sean Macdonald knocked down a triple to put the visitors up 12-8.

It was Sydney's turn to respond in a high octane opening to the contest with the Kings getting the job done inside with 16 points in the paint for the first quarter. 

But Macdonald, Fabijan Krslovic and Milton Doyle all hit from deep for the JackJumpers as they went 5/8 from beyond the arc to take the 26-25 lead into quarter-time. 

Tasmania extended their edge to five early in the second term but then the Kings got rolling and it began with a knockdown three from Jordan Hunter. Angus Glover then started a 10-0 run that included a triple from Kouat Noi and buckets to Derrick Walton Jr and Justin Simon.

Cooks then took over the rest of the half scoring Sydney's last 10 points to give him 12 to put his team up 54-44 at the break on the back of a stunning 73 per cent shooting clip. 

They also dominated the boards with 19 rebounds to eight, but they only missed eight shots for the JackJumpers to have a chance at defensive rebounds on.

Sydney came out and hit the first seven points of the second half to push the advantage out to 17. The Kings were able to maintain that edge throughout the third quarter and went into three quarter-time leading 77-62.

However, given Tasmania came back from 14 down last time this one wasn’t quite locked away for the Kings yet. The first five points of the fourth quarter put any doubt to rest, though, and the Kings cruised to the eventual 20-point victory.

The JackJumpers have a quick turnaround to now host the Phoenix as well on Sunday afternoon at MyState Bank Arena to open 2023.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 13

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 77 (Steindl 13, Macdonald 11, Doyle 9, White 9) 

SYDNEY KINGS 97 (Cooks 23, Vasiljevic 13, Simon 12)

BOX SCORE