'No one can score': Kings add to Tassie's Launceston hoodoo

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Two things continue to get worse for the Tasmania JackJumpers despite sitting in second spot on the NBL ladder; injuries and their record at the Silverdome in Launceston.

Tasmania's record in Launceston fell to 2-9 after a 71-68 loss to the Sydney Kings in a top-two battle with leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate David Johnson going down with a calf injury and back-up big man struggling with a foot injury.

Even with so many obstacles, JackJumpers' head coach Scott Roth's men went within two minutes of beating the defending champions, but back-to-back threes from Makuach Maluach took the lead away from the home side and gave the visiting Kings all the momentum to steal a three-point victory and go clear at the top of the NBL27 ladder.

"(It was) two teams battling, it was a toe-to-toe kind of thing and obviously those two three-balls and offensive rebounds at the very end were obviously enough to get the separation (for Sydney)," Roth said in the post-game press conference.

"It was just a slugfest, back and forth, we were down some players here and it was really good effort by the guys that tried to stay out there as long as they could.

"For whatever reason in this building, I don't think anyone can score every now and then, so it doesn't really matter (about how well we executed). I don't know if it was actually the defence or the building, but a 68-71 game is very unusual, especially in the last two or three years with the three-ball and everyone shooting it. It was just a hell of a battle.

Already without star import Bryce Hamilton, Ben Ayre and more, Roth will be forced to make further adjustments to his rotation after injuries to Johnson and Gold.

"(David's) got a calf injury, which I'm sure is going to be quite a while, and Ben Gold's down too also, he's been dealing with a foot problem for the last 10 days. So I would expect not to see him for quite a while also," he said.

"We'll have some developmental players playing, and that's what it is. It's sport."

Despite losing nine of 11 games in Launceston, Roth didn't believe there was any hoodoo at the building.

"To be honest with you, I mean, the only thing I can tell you is we haven't been good enough to win here. That's ultimately what it is at the end of the day," he said.

"All the teams travel throughout Australia and playing in Bendigo and wherever for the Blitz, and then in different gyms, and you're making adjustments constantly as a player, and it'd be no different than coming into this building.

"We just haven't played well enough. We've had a few games that have been close like this that we haven't been across the line, and then we've had other ones where it's just a horrible outing on the offensive side in particular. We just haven't played well enough to win."

Import sharpshooter Dakota Mathias was impressive for the JackJumpers with 20 points while connecting on 4-from-9 from the three-point line.

MVP candidate Kendric Davis led the way for the Kings with 20 points and nine assists as Sydney closed out four games in nine days on the road with a 3-1 record - the only loss coming against Melbourne United.

"Well, it's where we got really good as an organisation last year, the first year, an introduction of some new players and we started and we went on a 12-game win streak in the regular season doing what we did tonight - 24 down in Cairns, come back and win - just the next play and kept fighting," Kings coach Brian Goorjian said in his post-game press conference.

"(This year) we've got a bunch of new young players in on this and that culture on this trip started. We've done some good things, but that side's been waning, and we took a big step there

"Ours was four games in eight days and we talked about it when we got together this year, that the first thing is your team and then the second thing is the schedule. So we addressed the schedule not talking 'this is going to be part of our journey and this is going to make us or break us'.

"Tonight, stayed in it, were right there, and then it looked like they were going to, seven up is like 20 up in a game like tonight, so to hang in there and win this one was huge."

The Kings don't play for another nine days when they host the South East Melbourne Phoenix at home while the JackJumpers take on the Phoenix in Melbourne on Sunday.

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