Kings Overpower Tassie to End 2022 in Top Spot

Saturday, December 31, 2022

The Sydney Kings have guaranteed themselves top spot to end 2022 after delivering a standout all-round performance in front of a big home crowd to beat the Tasmania JackJumpers 97-77 on Friday night.

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 20-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.

There was plenty for Buford to like about the Kings' performance from home and for Lisch to have enjoyed in his first game in charge. His team shot a remarkable 69 per cent from the field for the game including hitting 8/17 from deep.

That helped them dominate the glass with 38 rebounds to just 20 from the JackJumpers. All that helped make up for the 23 turnovers they did have as a team and conceded 20 points from.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Xavier Cooks ??????? that down!! Another huge dunk ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/OF7Jy42u8f">pic.twitter.com/OF7Jy42u8f</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1608754468690235392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sydney was a force inside leading to the hot shooting clip with 56 points in the paint to 20 from Tasmania. Xavier Cooks led that charge finishing with 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists on 10/12 shooting.

DJ Vasiljevic added 13 points and seven rebounds, Justin Simon 12 points and six boards, Derrick Walton Jr 11 points and seven assists, and Kouat Noi 10 points.

Kevin Lisch is 1-0 now as a head coach in the NBL and was thankful to the support he received.

"To be honest you put in probably 99 per cent of the work before the game and the guys have done that," Lisch said.

"It was a fun game to watch with the way they competed I think and especially after that first quarter when our defence wasn’t great.

"We dug our heels in and said we're not going to go down this route. The fight and the willingness to play for each other I think was really good to see."

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."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sean Macdonald from DEEEEEEP<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/Hz3GLF9p2U">pic.twitter.com/Hz3GLF9p2U</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1608768553301463041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Walton Jr bounce pass ? DJ from range<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/4DPjQ2QJX9">pic.twitter.com/4DPjQ2QJX9</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1608759955921993728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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 Kings don't play again until hosting the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Wednesday. The JackJumpers have a quick turnaround to now host the Phoenix as well on Sunday afternoon at MyState Bank Arena.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 13

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

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

BOX SCORE