Tasmania JackJumpers 83 (McIntosh 20, Adams 19, Magette 14)
Melbourne United 61 (Agada 22, Lual-Acuil 12, Ili 9)
Match summary
The Tasmania JackJumpers have continued their charge to a debut playoff spot, defeating ladder leaders Melbourne United 83-61 in Hobart.
The win momentarily moves them into the 4th and final playoff spot, but will will drop out if Perth beat South East Melbourne tomorrow in the final game of the NBL regular season.
The win ends Tasmania’s regular season record to 17-11, which is an incredible achievement for a first year franchise. Regardless of making playoffs, the overall record is something the JackJumpers should be proud of and would of been enough to qualify for playoffs in previous seasons.
Melbourne already had the number one seeding lined up and had Matthew Dellavedova, Jack White and David Barlow all missing the game through injury. But despite this Melbourne is number one for a reason, they still had MVP candidate Jo Lual-Acuil, sharp shooter Chris Goulding, and recent signing Yudai Baba in the squad. Plus they also have one of the deepest bench in the NBL, who have been have been able to rack up wins all season with various lineups.
Coming into the game knowing they needed to win to be a chance of playoffs, Tasmania jumped out to an early 15-5 lead. The hot start came on the back of three straight 3-pointers by Josh Adams, and some aggressive drives to the basket from Fabian Krslovic.
Adams Starting us off with a bang🔥
— Tasmania JackJumpers 🐜 (@JackJumpers) April 23, 2022
Live now on @espnausnz/ @kayosports/ @foxtel pic.twitter.com/DS5WjFf9k9
But Melbourne United fought back through Caleb Agada 14 points first quarter points, who took the visitors late run to head to finish the quarter up leading 20-18.
The remainder of the half was an arm wrestle as both teams struggled to hit thier shots. Despite getting plenty of great looks from outside, Tasmania only managed one more three pointer after Adams three straight to start the game. Their 4/18 from outside was only bettered by Melbourne’s 3/11.
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth demanded his team to attack the basket to get the scoreboard ticking over. MiKyle McIntosh appearance into the game for Tasmania helped this cause as he backed his way into the basket for some close range points. While at the other end Lual-Acuil’s height advantage was slowly getting free after bing well held by Tasmania. A numer of times his size was simply too much when he created a good seal for an easy dunk.
Despite being down 37-33 at the half, Tasmania had been the stronger team, and it appeared they may have missed an opportunity against eh defending champs.
But Melbourne were hit in the second half by a hungry JackJumpers team who simply below them off the court.
Jack McVeigh and Adams had both been quiet in the first half, with only 7 field goal attempts between them. But they both were the focal point for Tassies offence as they led a 29-9 third quarter blitz. They had restructured their offence to keep attacking them rim and not allow any easy shots for Melbourne.
Tasmania was spurred on by the sell out crowd, which had been on edge the first half waiting for their team to make run.
Melbourne were shell shocked half way through the third quarter a their lead evaporated and were down double figures. They looked to their bench for a spark, but the JackJumper continued to attack as the lead increased.
The boys are putting on a show
— Tasmania JackJumpers 🐜 (@JackJumpers) April 23, 2022
Watch us now on @espnausnz / @kayosports / @foxtel pic.twitter.com/3gL6XtzdOz
The final quarter saw Tasmania to maintain the lead as the crowd got to celebrate their, in what could be their final game of the season. The 22 point final margin was fitting of their dominance throughout the game, while Melbourne will simply need to put the game behind them and prepare for the finals.
They may meet Tasmania again in the semi finals, but all hangs on the Perth Wildcats beating SE Melbourne match.
Key takeaways from the game
Points in the paint
The JackJumpers moving to an inside game was shown by outscoring Melbourne 40-26 in the paint. This has been a stat the smaller JackJumpers have struggled with all season. A lot of this came from points from turnover, which they also outscored Melbourne 23-11.
Josh Magette in control
I hadn’t mentioned him so far, but Josh was everywhere for the team tonight. He goes a little unnoticed at time behind the teams main scorers, but his ability to run a team has been impressive. His all around game of 14 points 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals was a great return for a strong game. But his ability to control the tempo and when to push the ball was like a conductor leading his orchestra. It is no surprise he led the team in minutes on court with 30.
McIntosh bullys melbourne…. again
When McIntosh was struggling early in the season, he turned his season around with a string of strong games that began against Melbourne. His 16 point effort in February didn’t seem much on the stat sheet, but the majority of those were scored in a first quarter where they blitzed United. Their bigs were too slow and their guards were strong enough. He repeated that dose again tonight with 20 points as he continues to be touch matchup when he’s going at the ring.
