The Tasmania JackJumpers have ended their NBL Blitz campaign on a high following a 83-68 win over the Cairns Taipans at the Elphin Sport Centre in Launceston.
Despite being in control for most of the game, the match was closely fought for the opening three quarters until Josh Magette led Tasmania on a 10-0 burst early in the forth quarter to put the game out of reach for the Taipans.
It was different game to the match up last week between the two teams just over a week ago, the JackJumpers were resting Jared McVeigh (calf soreness) and Clint Steindl (dislocated finger) who were recovering from injury. The Taipans were resting key scorer and playmaker Scott Machado, whos absence tested the Taipans offence which struggled for any real flow all night.
For the JackJumpers, they were led once again my Josh Magette who finished who benefited from Machado’s absence to end up with 26 points, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 rebounds. Their other imports Josh Adams was solid with 15 points and McIntosh had a great return back to form with 18 points include 4/5 from outside.
The difference between the two teams was in the defensive end, Will Magnay was a consistent presence in the middle for Tasmania and stopped the effectiveness of the Taipans big men Todd Zimmerman and Nathan Jawai. Magnay finished with 9 rebounds and 5 blocks, and is starting to show the NBL some of the form that saw him get a call up NBA.
The defensive pressure they put on the cairns ball handlers was immense, with Matt Kenyon, Jarred Weeks and Magette all played key roles in the lopsided 25-11 turnover count. Which will be pleasing to JackJumpers Coach Scott Roth, who would of been keen to see how his team would respond following the 30 point thumping they received on Thursday night care of the Perth Wildcats.
It put to an end a solid 5 game pre season over the last 2 weeks across Tasmania that resulted in two wins against the Taipans. Apart from the Perth match they were competitive for the whole 40 minutes and can be confident they are ready for the season to begin.
Embed from Getty ImagesKey Take aways
Local Debut
Tasmanian development player Sejr Deans got his first minutes on court when he was called up to the starting lineup. The moment was not missed by the crowd, as Deans grew up in Launceston and had plenty of family and friends in attendance. This was a great gesture by the coaching staff, he finished with 6 minutes on court and scoring 2 points and 1 assist.
Time for development
Interestingly Nikita Mikhailovskii did not get on court tonight. I didn’t recall any information about him sitting this game out and he did appear to be suited up to play, so we assume this one was an official “DNP – coach’s decision.
Up Next
With pre-season complete the JackJumpers now head into their NBL season opener against the Brisbane Bullets in Hobart on Friday 3 December.
