After an amazing debut season, the Tasmania JackJumpers have qualified in their the NBL finals.
THE STREAK IS OVER.
— NBL (@NBL) April 24, 2022
The @JackJumpers are going to the NBL Finals 🐜#NBL22 pic.twitter.com/rYQC6zjXk3
After ending the season with a huge win over Melbourne United Saturday night , this saw them finish with a 17-11 record move up in forth and last NBL finals spot. But they had to wait 24 hours to see if the Perth Wildcats could beat South East Melbourne and leapfrog them into 4th.
It came down to a missed Bryce Cotton jump shot in the final seconds of overtime, but the Phoenix defeated the Wildcats 102-100. The result saw the JackJumpers stay in forth and qualify for the finals, while ending the Wildcats 36 year run of making the playoffs.
Despite the loss and missing the finals, Perth coach Scott Morrison paid tribute to the JackJumpers in the post game press conference
“Congrats to Tasmania for making the finals in their first year. Pretty incredible achievement, and they earned it.” he said.
“That game where they beat us at home a few weeks ago was a deciding factor. They’re the hottest team in the league right now.
“So with all due respect to the other three teams, we wish them the best of luck moving forward.”
JackJumpers reaction
The majority of the JackJumpers squad was together to watch the game, with Matt Kenyon posting a video of the final seconds.
Checking in on the @JackJumpers via @MattKenyon9's Instagram story 🐜#NBL22 pic.twitter.com/awXKw5csLF
— NBL (@NBL) April 24, 2022
Although he wasn’t with the, coach Scott Roth said he preffered to watch the game at home.
“I just wanted to be by myself and watch the game, and pace when I needed to pace, and I was just chilling out,” he said.
But he also spoke about what the playoffs mean to the team
“I think they all believed they would play again and they were still in that mindset and when we came in this morning they were just really locked in to moving forward.
“I’m just proud of how they’ve built the culture here and represented the state. Again, expect to win, we’ve been saying that for the last 2-3 weeks that they’re good enough to beat anybody at anytime. And when you go to Melbourne expect to win and don’t think anything other than that.”
