The Tasmania JackJumpers responded to a record loss as you would expect in the first half on Friday night in Launceston, but the Sydney Kings still overpowered them for the 80-71 victory.
Sydney had 13 turnovers in the first half and found themselves 16 points down against the JackJumpers, but got going in the second half led by two-time championship captain Xavier Cooks (15 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three blocks).
The Kings held Tasmania to just 26 points for the entire second half for the nine-point victory to improve to 5-2 and leave the JackJumpers 2-4.
Tasmania were playing at their second home of The Silverdome, with the reigning champions out to bounce back from their biggest defeat on Saturday, to the Illawarra Hawks.
One area where the Jackjumpers have excelled in their first three NBL seasons is hitting back from disappointing performances, and they recovered well from Sydney's 7-2 start.
They forced the Kings into nine turnovers for the rest of the first quarter and scored nine points from those, including going on a 17-2 run.
Jordon Crawford scored 18 points in the first half and stretched Tasmania's lead to 16 with a fourth three-pointer just before the half-time break, when the JackJumpers led 45-33.
Sydney scored the last six points of the third term to be back within four and they wouldn't be denied with 47 points to 26 in the second half.
The Kings won despite conceding 21 turnovers and only shooting 7-of-24 from three-point land, but Kouat Noi gave a terrific spark off the bench in the second half for 14 points on 3-of-4 long-range shooting.
Bul Kuol produced a standout defensive performance for Sydney on Tasmania star Milton Doyle, holding him to eight points on 2-of-13 shooting. Alex Toohey also had 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
The Kings won the rebound battle 49 to 36, which coach Brian Goorjian pointed to as being crucial in the second half turnaround.
"We struggled all night offensively really, and we're in a situation going through change, and playing a different way without Jaylen (Adams) and then bringing him back," he said.
"It was clunky and a bit all over the place, but we got back into the game because we defended and out-rebounded."
Crawford top-scored with 25 points for the JackJumpers, who now play in Adelaide on Sunday, with Majok Deng adding 11 points and six rebounds, and Will Magnay taking 13 points, five boards, three assists and three steals.
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth knows his team just needs a find to way to put more points on the board.
"We have been working towards getting off to better starts and the change in the line-up might have helped a little bit, but it was a tale of two halves," he said.
"Our achilles heel is that we can't score enough points to stay with teams and that puts a lot of pressure on our defence."
