After being in control for three quarters, the Tasmania JackJumpers were outscored by 21 in the final quarter to go down 83-71 to the Sydney Kings at Qudos Bank Arena.
In their final match before Christmas, the JackJumpers provided a true Jekyll and Hyde performance (or is that Santa and Grinch?) in Sydney. In some of the best and worst gameplay for the season, Clint Steindl led team scoringwith 15 points, supported by Josh Magette (13 points) and MiKyle Macintosh (11 points).
Tasmania opened up the match with a different style of offense. Moving away from an offence that structured around Magette and Josh Adams, and looked for contributions across the floor. It didnt brining immediate dividends, as they only scored 2 solitary points in the opening 5 minutes, However, they finished the quarter with 18 quick points from Sam McDaniel, MiKyle Mcintosh and Steidl. As Tasmania took a surprising 3 point lead into the quarter.
If at first you don’t succeed… our Captain goes for it and nails the second attempt!
— Tasmania JackJumpers 🐜 (@JackJumpers) December 22, 2021
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The impressive scoring rate continued throughout the half. With the entire squad pressure defense was forcing the kings into poor shots, and running a patient offence that waited for the right shot. Will Magnay and Mcintosh were seeing the ball inside, which opened up opportunities the Tassie’s shooters. For the first time all season the team offence was clicking and shots were falling. They went into the half with a 9 point lead, shooting 50% from the field including 8 of 15 from outside.
🚨 Josh Magette beats the buzzer and Tassie takes the lead into the main break 👀
— NBL (@NBL) December 22, 2021
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The second half scoring started drying up for the JackJumpers, but their ongoing pressure on the defensive end stopped Sydney from making inroads into the lead. Jarell Martin (24 points, 11 rebounds) was a constant target for the Kings. His ability to find the basket or get to the foul line was crucial in keeping the Kings in the game.
Tasmania held its 9 point lead going into the final term, but thats when things started to unravel.
The Kings came out hard, scored five quick points before Scott Roth called a timeout to ‘try stop the momentum. It had little effect as the kings proceeded to go on a 14-4 run, take a six point lead with four minutes to play. The JackJumpers team approach to offence was now a distant memory from the first half. As they returned to isolation basketball which resulted in rushed low percentage shots.
A 29-8 final quarter score was emphasied by a dunk by Wani Swaka Lo Buluk in the clsoing moment to seal the kings victory. Scott Roth and the JackJumpers were left to reflect on a road win that slipped through their fingers.
Embed from Getty Images“Its obviously frustrating, I thought we played very well for three quarters, kind of what I envisioned us to be, very scrappy and aggressive defensively, the ball finally started moving a little bit which we’ve been working on the last 7-8 days.
“It got away from us in the forth and you know its a lesson learned unfortunately. There is some positives out of there and we’ll build on those and get back to Tassie and go to work”.
Scott Roth
Takeaways from the game
McIntosh returned to form
Although he didn’t have a huge game on the box score, Mcintosh gave the team a lot of energy off the bench. He was active while on the court and provided additional inside presence the team has been needing all season.
Improved team play
The jackJumpers improved their team play, with Josh Adams and Josh Magette combining for 22 points. The rest of the scoring was spread throughout the team. Although the offence was struggling in the last quarter, the game provided the gameplay Scott Roth “envisioned” for his team.
3 point woes return
Tasmania had a half of basketball where we thought the poor shooting was turning around. However, it didn’t take for normailty to return. As the JackJumpers failed to connect from outside in the second half, going 0 for 14.
Foul shooting
While on shooting, the misses from the foul line proved to be costly down the stretch. The team went nine for seventeen for the game.
Next up
The JackJumpers (1-4) return home for a boxing day clash with the New Zealand Breakers (0-5).
