NBL25, Round 5, news and results: Kings heap misery on spluttering JackJumpers
The Sydney Kings moved to the top of the NBL ladder on Friday night with their dramatic come-from-behind win against Tasmania to continue the JackJumpers’ spluttering title defence.
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The Sydney Kings moved to the top of the NBL ladder on Friday night with their dramatic come-from-behind win against Tasmania to continue the JackJumpers’ spluttering title defence.
The Kings hatched a plan to neutralise Tasmania’s centerpiece playmaker Will Magnay and Sydney coach Brian Goorgian handed that job to Keli Leaupepe.
The 1.98m forward did enough to ensure the JJs’ bigman and Paris Olympian did not have a match-winning impact on the game in a dramatic second half when the Kings lived up to their name.
Sydney was as much as 16 points down several times in the exhilarating grand final rematch and its second-half aggression was enough to take the Kings’ to a powerful nine point win – 80-71 in Launceston.
The Kings had 49 rebounds to 36, and despite a horror night in terms of turnovers, a well-rounded performance put the Tasmanians on the back foot and brought up the Kings’ second win in a now after a loss on the road to the 36ers and win over the Taipans at home.
Smashed by the Hawks to the tune of 33 points last time out, question marks over the reigning champions eased early when Tasmania opened strongly both defensively and offensively.
Playmaker Jordon Crawford drained his best score of the season with his game-high 25, bettering his top performances so far this season of 19 against Melbourne United on September 28 and the Hawks on October 12.
Crawford hit 18 points in the first half and then the Kings cut off supply in the second when then they upped the ante on the defensive end and Xavier Cooks (15 points) and Alex Toohey (12 points) made their impact at the other end.
Battling to re-establish themselves in the game they had dominated, the JackJumpers reduced the deficit from 11 points to five entering the final minute of the game but the Kings held on for their best win of the season.
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth threw out the playbook early and put captain Clint Steindl in the starting five as the JJs looked for a way to hit the boards and boost their offensive ranking, which was the worst in the league going into the game.
It worked for a while but the skipper had only limited impact with six points for the game.
Tasmania’s outstanding first half had it ahead 45-33 at the long break. But a scoring drought hit in the third quarter with the home team scoring just eight points.
Batemon stars as Bullets beat the Breakers
by Nick Tucker
For the second successive week American import James Batemon proved the decisive difference that allowed the Brisbane Bullets to prevail.
Batemon, 21 points, scorched in a sensational showing at the Brisbane Entertainment centre that spearheaded his Bullets to a thrilling last-gasp 84-73 victory over the visiting Breakers.
It was a highlight-laden performance from the three-point flamethrower that just one fortnight ago couldn’t buy a bucket.
Fast forward to Thursday night and Batemon had gone from Mr Streaky to Fan Favourite with a stirring deep-shooting masterclass that featured five threes, a nasty cross-over to score in the fourth and a diving effort moments later that led to a timely jam by Harrison which had the BEC humming.
“We felt a bit disappointed in our first performance in front of the home crowd. You want to put on something you are proud of. We felt we could have been better there,” Bullets forward Josh Bannon said.
“It was good to rally back as a group and play with some more toughness and that is something we are going to build on.
“Establish a real fortress here, this is going to be a tough place to come and play. We are going to make sure of that.”
In a masterstroke by Batemon and his coach Justin Schueller to light a fire beneath the Milwaukee magician, Batemon came off the bench against the Phoenix in round 4.
In that game he hit the dagger to win 87-85 and with similar heroics against the Breakers, when the game swung in the balance, he sunk a crucial trey just under three minutes from time to take a commanding 76-68 lead.
That lead was not surrendered and deservedly the brilliant Batemon struck away downcourt in the final play to add the exclamation mark to his game-high 21 points.
“There’s something with this group in close games, I just feel very good about us down the stretch,” Josh Bannan said.
BATEMON GOES BANG BANG
After dropping a crucial 20 points in Brisbane’s first win of the season last week, import guard Batemon showed it was no flash in the pan with his three-point-masterclass a big factor at home on Thursday.
He had the hot hand scoring 14 points across the first three quarters, in the process shushing any whispers he was a waste of space on Brisbane’s roster this season.
Batemon came to life in the second quarter draining three treys and his confident shooting form deep gave Brisbane the edge on a night where the Breakers’ 208cm big man Jonah Bolden scored the equal-most threes (tied with Jackson-Cartwright with three) for his team.
Batemon went 4-5 from downtown before former Indiana Pacers draft pick Mojave King (eight points in less than three minutes) caught fire to start the fourth and spark life into the Breakers.
Then with a little over six minutes remaining, with a textbook drive to the cup, Jackson-Cartwright handed the visitors their first lead 64-63 since they were ahead 9-8 early in the game.
Batemon and his Bullets ensured that was the last time they trailed.
“It’s great to see him settle in and get going. We need that from him. We love to see it,” Bannan said.
“We weren’t ever questioning what he was trying to do it was like how do we continue to help him get better and help him find his spots,” Schueller added.
JACKSON-CARTWRIGHT CARNAGE
Where would the Breakers be without Parker Jackson-Cartwright?
They wouldn’t have been in this game without the diminutive MVP contender throwing the team on his shoulders and giving the Bullets work.
Brisbane captain Mitch Norton found himself on ‘PJC island’ a handful of occasions and on an efficient clip (12 points, 5-8 shooting), Jackson-Cartwright ensured his side was right there entering the third frame.
If he wasn’t draining mid-range jumpers, he was dishing left, right and centre to his teammates who were freed up wonderfully by the dynamic American.
Prather, in his 100th NBL game, was influential for Brisbane in response, dropping in seven first-half points alongside James Batemon (11 points, 3-4 three pointers) to steer the side to a 39-33 halftime lead.
The Bullets won all four quarters on their way to notching win No.2 on the season.
BIG MEN PRODUCTION
The Bullets led 17-13 after the first quarter and could have amassed a much bigger lead had they capitalised on a sluggish Breakers outfit that showed no signs they had just warmed their engines against three high-class NBA teams in the States.
The home side picked off errant passes, ran the floor well, showed active hands and rarely settled for three in a quarter that presented a handful of good signs.
Keandre Cook (two steals) was king on the defensive end with deflections aplenty.
“We needed to hit first. We wanted to come out and have that stand. A bit of desire and hunger. To hold them to 13 and set the table for us was outstanding,” Schueller said.
“It (noticing Cook’s defence in the preseason) was like ‘wow’ this guy can be very good for us on both sides of the ball,” Banned added.
Big men Tyrell Harrison, Rocco Zikarsky and Toni Smith-Milner, against his former team, all contributed in their own ways.
The brick-wall screens of Zikarsky opened things up for blokes like Isaac White and James Batemon. Harrison shouldered plenty of defensive pressure early distributing the rock out of the post and Smith-Milner sunk a trey with his first shot coming off the bench.
Brisbane coach Justin Schueller was looking for a big defensive effort to spark the offence and he got it in a strong first half showing.
“We are starting to get it in terms of the way we are getting after it in practice,” Bannon said.
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