Despite a dominant opening half, the Tasmanian Jackjumpers went down to the Adelaide 36ers 92-90 on Sunday afternoon at the Ulverstone Leisure Centre.
In a game of two very different halves, the Jackjumpers blew the 36ers off the court in the 32-11 opening quarter, only to find the 36ers edge back, winning all final 3 quarters to sneak home with a two point win.
The strong start was inspired by the debut of Will Magnay for JackJumpers, who had been unaviable the opening two pre-season games as he recovered from a foot injury, and was on limited minutes on his return. He didn’t waste any time by scoring his first points from perfect alley-oop dunk from Josh Magette, and provided a constant presence on both ends of the floor as the JackJumpers played their best basketball of the blitz. Aside from Magnay, the team had connected on 7 three point attempts in the opening quarter. This left the 36ers and new coach CJ Bruton shellshocked, but there was still three quarters to go.
Tasmania still managed to maintain a significant lead for the first half, but the 36ers were slowly making inroads into the lead. Daniel Johnson in particular was proving to be a difficult matchup, as the JackJumpers cycled through several defenders to try and stop his mid-range jump game. Will Magnay was by far their best matchup, however he only was in action for the first half, as he was shutdown after half time as part of his return from injury. He finished the game with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals
Despite holding a 50-33 lead at the half, the JackJumpers saw that lead all but disappear as Adelaide started off the 2nd half strong with a 16-2 run. Their offence which was struggling in the first half suddenly was looking sublime through the hands of new recruit by Mitch McCarron (3 points, 12 assists). Meanwhile the JackJumpers struggled to get decent looks on offence, consistently needing to take low percentage shots late to beat the shot clock. Clint Steindl played a lone hand on offence as he scored 9 of the teams 11 points for the quarter, as they held on to a 61-55 lead heading into the final quarter.
Both teams struggled to score initially, but the 36ers took the lead with 5 minutes following Mojave King knocking down his third 3 pointer of the game. The 36ers looked ready to to overrun Tasmania in the final stages but Jack McVeigh wasn’t done quite yet, he grabbed several offence rebounds and put-back baskets to keep the JackJumpers in the game. It all game down the the final play of the game, the JackJumpers were down two and a chance to snatch victory. However a dysfunctional final possesion left Josh Magette to launch an ambitious long range attempt from outside that was well short.
It is a set the JackJumpers would love to run again again, but ultimately the final play was a good reflection of summary up the JackJumpers 2nd half offensive performance.
Despite the loss, we saw a great debut from Magnay, who provides an extra dimension to the team when he’s on the floor. Clint Steindl led the team in scoring with 17 off the bench, while Magette had 14 points and 8 assists, and Jack McVeigh with 11.
Overall we saw the best and worst of the JackJumpers in the pre-season in this game. Its given plenty for Scott Roth and the team to work through before there next game against the wildcats on Wednesday.
Take Aways from the game
Fade out
Giving up such a large lead would be of concern to coach Scott Roth, particularly as the JackJumpers also gave up a large lead against the Cairns Taipans before putting the foot back down in the final 5 minutes.
Lack of punch from the bench
Aside from Clint Steindl the second unit struggled to impact on the scoreboard, combining for 14 points. After two strong games so far, Mikyle Mcintosh’s had a down had a down game (6 points on 1-7FG, 3 rebounds) as he started from the bench for the first time as Magnay joined the team.
Next star scores
Nikita Mikhailovskii scored his first points as a JackJumper as he went 1 from 2 from downtown in six and a half minutes on court. Based on rotations three games in I think we’ll see Roth slowly bring Mikhailovski into the rotation. There is a lot of depth with tall shooting guards, so there is no rush into the lineup. No doubt its been a significant transition for the young man as he transitions from Russian life to Australia, but no doubt we’ll see him more as the season get underway.
Next up
The JackJumpers take on the Perth Wildcats in their forth game of the Blitz in Ulverstone on Wednesday at 7.30pm (AEST).
