Starting 5: Kings roar, Hawks' wings clipped

Round 2 saw Sydney continue to surge, while Adelaide and South East Melbourne returned to the winners' circle.

Pete Hooley looks at some key talking points from the round just gone.

1 – Kings not going anywhere

After zero experts tipped the reigning champions to repeat in NBL27, Kendric Davis came out and sent a message in the media when he touched down in Sydney.

Fast forward two rounds and the Sydney Kings have made their own statement to the competition, dismantling their rival in Round 2 and doing it with ease.

While they may have lost some of their depth at certain positions, the young guns like Will Johnston have relished their opportunities and are playing perfect supporting roles to the superstars.

The Kings are here to stay and they mean business.

2 – Adelaide responds

The trip over to Perth on Thursday was designed to be the perfect moment for Bryce Cotton, who was celebrating his 300th career game, on a night that also marked Trevor Gleeson's first game back.

The six-time MVP looked virtually unstoppable on the floor, until the last few seconds when his foul on Elijah Pepper gave the Wildcats the win.

Just a few days later, Adelaide returned home to welcome in the Cairns Taipans and after the first quarter it was clear how motivated the team was to right the ship.

While Cotton was up to his usual tricks, it was Nick Rakocevic who set the tone early and put the 36ers in the driver's seat to get their first home win.

3 – Time to look in the mirror

The Illawarra Hawks are sitting bottom of the ladder to begin the season, losing all three games thus far.

Justin Tatum spoke in the press conference about how proud he was of the team for not giving up the fight and navigating a tough opening schedule, but it's time the Hawks leaders step up and get them on the board.

Some poor defensive lapses, combined with unforced turnovers, saw the Hawks chasing the Kings from early in the second quarter and they could never close the gap.

Their schedule doesn't get any easier from here, which is why Tatum will need more from his veterans to galvanise the group.

4 – More Pepper, please

After re-signing with the Perth Wildcats in the off-season, star guard Elijah Pepper was tipped to have a breakout year and he's started it perfectly.

Put the game-winner aside and he has been brilliant all over the floor, shooting efficiently and picking his moments to shine.

The third-year guard is a key piece to the Wildcats puzzle and the inclusion of Brandon Knight will only help him continue to flourish.

Last season he averaged 10 points per game and shot just 40 per cent from the field, and through three games this season he is averaging 23 points and 3.7 assists while shooting 48 per cent.

5 – What's the backup plan? 

The round tipped off with a highly anticipated Throwdown and unfortunately it ended up being anything but exciting.

The Phoenix made just four of 41 attempts from three, in one of the worst shooting nights on record.

The biggest question to come out of that is why there was no backup plan for the Phoenix, as they kept firing away without results.