Kings frontcourt will get them over the line, Magnay is a beast but can't single handedly beat Oliver, Cooks and Leaupepe. Wouldn't shock me to see JJs DP Archie Woodhill get some minutes, his 6'9 225lb frame would be useful for Tassie tonight

Doubts re Sword playing.

Interesting times

Woodhill not even suited up.

Terangi starting on bench.

JJ's at home looking to bounce back, tough assignment against Sydney though.

Kings by 6.

Roth tech fouled in the first minute, and Lo and behold the foul count is six to one to JJs with a minute left in the first.

Roth is very clever, changes his starting five and JJs start rolling. Barker is such an underrated player. All JJs at present.

Yes Dunkman, I've always been a huge fan of Barker

Kings got to many to choose from but why would Leafa get any time ahead of Bruce is mind boggling.

Gorj should call another timeout & see if the players can solve his problems

Cooks and Toohey so important to kings, some kings players so overhyped on what their ability is. Goorj just not as ruthless as he used to be. Shorten the playing list.

Roth is a master, he's not scared to change things and make tough decisions. Sword not playing tells you a lot. Doyle so team oriented, I’ll take the D you other guys score, love it. Crawford just not getting guarded by anyone is going to kill you.

Liking Coplands comments, he understands the game and doesn’t need to crap on like most. Should be a good second half, Cooks on two fouls might hurt kings though.

Kings might turn it around in the 2nd half but if they can't score against the JJ’s D they are not going to be able to get it dong against United either. Not sure they can win the Chip in that case. Absolute genius of Roth to run Steindel with starters at the 3.

Kings need the guards to control the game. Far too much of their offence is through cooks and laupepe at the perimeter.

Adams surprisingly just isn't running the show like he has in the past

What is goorj doing with his subs? No wonder they can't get any momentum

Is Gorj actually calling the subs it looks to me like he's set up the asst coaches like the Australian team & we know how that worked out

Leafa shooting less than 10% on the season and playing ahead of Bruce, Cooks on three fouls.

Been some good games this season but this certainly isn't one of them.

It's definitely an interesting game the JJ's are trying to lose it & Sydney can't win it playing like this

Don't know what going on with Sword sitting on the pine the whole game. Maybe the JJs are going to invoke the 7 game clause. Maybe just horses for courses. Media have spoken to him at the game and no illness or injury.

Is Gorj actually calling the subs it looks to me like he's set up the asst coaches like the Australian team & we know how that worked out"

I'm intrigued how many people on this board are surprised that assistant coaches are given responsibility. Every aspect of the game plan would be worked out by the coaches as a team, often with input from players.

Might get a good finish. You would think that Sword is on way out by not playing, need a four man with beng backing up four and five. Cooks is kings, target him on defence and get him in foul trouble andkings gone

Sword subbed in??? Wtf?

Just out of interest- any team gone from the championship to the spoon in a season?

Of course asst coaches are given responsibility but it seems strange that the coach doesn't seem to know who's going in & when. At the 36ers game they'd walk behind him to the bench then he'd pull them back from being subbed in??

You tell me....

A coach changing a substitution is not unusual.

Copeland, use your brain, lol, he's right though

This is reminiscent of Tassie v Perth, both teams trying to lose!

Might have been Swords chance to show something to fend off the axe. Not sure that was enough. Roth is trying everything but surely it is obvious now what has to be done.

With Doyle playing like that, JJs wouldn't beat SEM let alone Sydney

JJs in trouble now, Roth has rung every ounce out of some average players over past few seasons, Sword hasn't lived up to expectations, Terangi more chance than a cat has lives. Sometimes you get what you pay for. After Magnay no rebounders. Championship blues.

Kings need to shorten rotation, Adams, Kuol, Toohey Cooks main guys , possibly Galloway as fifth, throw in Bruce, Oliver, Noi and bench the rest. They are just too hot and cold.

SEM have someone training that would make a huge difference at the 4 but would they release him and would Roth take him. Maybe too much baggage for JJs. CEO said a very definite 'no' when asked in July when heavily rumoured. He said multiple teams have been in contact on Overtime. Wonder who else besides Brisbane?

Watching the reply. Hooley going on again about the "platoon system", he seems to have 3-4 topics on repeat for the all entire season (Sobey on the second unit" is another). I guess if you say it enough people will believe it?

Doyle is playing well, always gets best defender, just struggling offensively, others got take up some slack.

Watching the presser, I thought Roth was about to add 'yet' when he said McVeigh’s "not being back here". Rockets clearly going to play him in the G League as injury insurance with no minutes in the Pelicans or Spurs preseason games. No surprises there really. Wish we knew what Roth knows though. Roth didn’t qualify what he was saying tonight in terms of the teams scoring woes with the JJs are going to stick with what they have. Said he coached poorly though by not bringing Sword on earlier.

Sydney had 21 turnovers and shot 29% from 3 but comfortably defeated a team with a lack of scorers

@word14

No, but 2 got close:

Launceston Casino City won the title in 1981, came 13th (out of 14) in 1982. Won only 3 games more than the wooden spoon team (Bankstown Bruins).

New Zealand Breakers won the title in 2012/13, came 7th (out of 8) in 2013/14. Won only 1 game more than the wooden spoon team (Townsville Crocodiles).

What has happened to drmics game. He is looking like lost fish head at at sea.certainly lacking in confidence...

JJs woes simply come from being without 3 gun players in McVeigh, Lee & MacDonald compared to last year. The players filling those roster spots at the moment are just average at best. The loss of that calibre of players will bring any team back to the field. I wouldn't call that championship blues. They have themselves in this bind where they are waiting for MacDonald and maybe McVeigh and made a bad call with the 3rd import. The latter they can still fix and MacDonald will be back. That might be enough to kick start their season. The roster doesn’t need a rebuild just those key pieces sorted whether the rest are viewed as average or out of form or whatever. It doesn’t help not being able to bunker down at My State Bank Arena either but that is what it is.

cheers, Statman, lets see how close Tassie get this season...

At least give Sword a chance to fail.

Tasmania will need to upgrade if McVeigh isn't coming back.

Roth looks reasonably confident that McVeigh will be back.

Wins don't come much uglier than that.

Listening to the Presser again, Roth only brought Sword on because he was out of options when the Kings made their run. So, in other words he wasn't going to play him at all but for that. That might happen with imports at other teams but is quite buzzard for the JJs and their history with imports. Thought Sword looked quite sombre at times sitting on the pine during the game too. There must be something more to this because Sword has had some good contributions in parts of games leading up to this. Roth talks about professional sports being a brutal business and maybe that is what we are seeing unfolding here.

Sword's played 5 games so they've still got one more game left, tomorrow in Adelaide and after that will probably need to make a decision on him. Cut him before his contract becomes guaranteed for the rest of the season or stick with him. Last night's situation suggets the end is probably nigh.

Very hard to get a read on the McVeigh thing. Roth has annointed him as captain in waiting, McVeigh has said he wants his number 9 retired to the rafters when his playing days are over, his very best mates are at the JJs including Drmic who came in part to play with him again. He owns a house in Hobart and his wife was relocating employment. Also would not be suiting Larry's purposes with the JJs faltering when he is still trying to sell for top dollar. So, who knows.

Sword seems to be in trouble, I agree, but benching is not necessarily bad. Where did Jordan Crawford spend a lot of game 2 (or 3?)? On the bench.

Now, to see if Sword can come back, in a big way, next game. Possibly his last chance (according to contract cancellation). If he does, having your 3 imports firing will really turn things around for the JJ's. He could be the key.

If Sword fires v Syd, JJ's win.

Imagine McVeigh returning, a new import and Moller.

PW that would be awesome

And I know they are polar opposites as guards but if they were going to bring in a guard imagine if they had just brought back Josh Adam's instead especially with the benefit of hindsight re Macdonalds injury. He was available and probably affordable after a year off injured but has since signed elsewhere. He and Roth would have had to bury their differences but lots of fans still wear number 14. Who would the opposition double team then?

Interesting comments by roth at his press conference about how badly he treated sword with that subbing. Good on him for owning it.

But suggested he'll get plenty of time in their next game. Hardly a comment you'd make before cutting someone I'd think but he's very hard to read!

It might be show us what you got or you are gone, though I also thought he said they would make no changes. Doyle needs help though.

Doyle needs to stop ball-hogging, he'd be one of the least efficient isolation players in the league at the moment. Mid last season he fell into a similar trap. Move the ball and get it back! Even if it's just one pass, rub off a screen and get it on the move.