The Tasmania JackJumpers shooting woes have continued through round 2, this time falling to the Taipans 69-62 in Cairns.
Poor shooting was again the major factor in the loss as they shot a combined 31% from the field (24-76) and a dismal 16% (5-34) from outside. Those numbers won’t win you a game in NBL, or almost any professional league.
Coach Scott Roth tried to blame the poor shooting on his defensive mindset he has layed out for the team.
“Our offence is just not there, and that’s my fault at the end of the day. We spend an enormous amount of time working on defense – it has to improve. You know we created 21 turnovers and we get zero fast break points. And we settled for a lot of jump shots which leads obviously to us not getting to the foul line.
It is what it is at the end of the day, that was like going to the dentists office and getting a cavity removed and they didn’t give you novocain”.
Scott Roth
The game started with both team struggling to find any rhythm on offence, where simply keeping possession for the duration of an offence was hard to come by. The Taipans were able to settle things by getting to the foul line(13 attempts in the quarter). This included two fouls on Will Magnay, who understandably who returned to the bench after only 3 minutes on court. Tasmania’s offence was helped by Jack McVeigh establishing himself on the offensive glass with a couple of put-backs and Clint Steindl picking his scoring up again with some running floaters. The JackJumpers ended the quarter down 22-21.
Just Clint Steindl things pic.twitter.com/3aqpYI4yqQ
— Tasmania JackJumpers 🐜 (@JackJumpers) December 11, 2021
After landing awkwardly on a jump shot, Taipans guard Scott Machado left the floor in the opening quarter with a foot injury. It was then confirmed he was not returning and making the task even tougher for Cairns with their playmaker on the sidelines.
Not surprising, the Taipans game had trouble in the second quarter adapting without their star point guard. To the groans of the home crowd they committed 11 turnovers and scored a total of 6 points for the quarter. Tasmania however were unable to seize any significant advantage, and despite well run offences and taking good shots, they simply couldn’t find ways to score. A late timeout from Scott Roth saw an spirited defensive effort and a 7-0 run to leave the Tasmania up 34-28 at the half.
In second half, led by Tahjere Mcall, the Taipans managed took better care of the ball and grinded out their offence by getting the ball into the paint. It was working, as dominated the scoring with a 17-2 run through the first seven and half minutes. Tasmania simply couldn’t get anything to work on offense, managing just one made field goal for the quarter. Some late foul shooting allowed them to match Cairns 6 point effort in the previous quarter, but were down 47-40.
The final quarter didn’t give Tassie fans the last quarter comeback as they saw against Adelaide. Victory was slipping away as Will Magnay committed his 4th foul. Coach Roth Rolled the dice and left him in the game, where he was nowhere near as effective playing cautious defense.
The chances of a comeback victory slipped further away with Josh Adams and Jack McVeigh fouling out. While Will Magnay was unable to commit to his strong defense. But foul trouble didn’t end there with Jack McVeigh and Josh Adams fouling out, placing the offense on the shoulders of Magette and Steindl.
The Taipans stuck with their grinding office from the 3rd quarter, Mccall consistently drove at the basket and looked to dump it Todd Zimmerman or Majok Deng for the finish or drawing the foul. The Taipans took out the win by adapting without Machado and outworking the JackJumpers on both ends of the floor.
Embed from Getty Images“We never want to drop our heads……we forced 21 turnovers and we don’t get any fast break points can be demoralizing if you let it. We just want to keep going with our defense that’s what we want to be our staple. To see the ball go through the net obviously gives you a little bit more energy and hopefully we can knock some down next game.
Sam McDaniel
Key Takeaways
Outside shooting
As highlighted against Adelaide, outside shooting really has become a problem. Due to their lack of size, the JackJumpers will continue to be a high volume 3 point shooting team. But when they aren’t falling, they need to find other ways to score.
Additionally,
Magette does it all
Despite the loss Josh Magette consistently continues to provide valuable contributions across the floor. He quietly led the team in points (19) rebounds (9) and assists (5). As great as he has been so far this season, the team needs more contributions across the floor for success this season
Josh Adams needs to attack the rim
For the second straight game Josh Adams was having trouble connecting from outside (1-10), but really needed to penetrate the paint as he did against Adelaide.
Adams averaged 9 free throw attempts through the first two games, but didn’t get to the line once against Cairns. Mostly due to his reluctance to take the ball inside. The Taipans have some size on the interior, but nothing that is unusual for the NBL.
In contrast, Cairns got the foul line frequently throughout the night, winning that stat 31-14.
Next up – A week to review a lot of tape before to take on the Perth Wildcats at the Jungle on Sunday 19 December.
