After a series of lackluster performances in front of their home fans, the Tasmania JackJumpers will be hoping to bring some of their impressive form from the road to My State Bank Arena over the holiday break, starting tonight against the Illawarra Hawks.
Across the next 17 days the JackJumpers host the Illawarra Hawks (tonight), New Zealand Breakers (26 Dec), South East Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne United (7 Jan). During that time they also head back to Sydney for the re-match with the top of the table Kings, after stealing a win there in early December.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe JackJumpers last home game against the Cairns Taipans on Saturday saw them lead across the first three quarters, only to be overrun by the visitors in the final minutes. The result even more surprising after Tasmania was coming off three straight wins on the road.
“We’ve been much better on the road in these quieter gyms, I don’t know if there is something to that” said JackJumpers assistant coach Jacob Chance
“We have to protect home floor, we’ve got a big stretch coming up at home, we’ve played I think the least amount of home games out of anyone. It gives us a massive advantage towards the back end of the year, but we have to take advantage of that. If we don’t we’ll regret it,” he said.
So far JackJumpers have a very respectful 6-4 record when playing outside of Tasmania this season. But its the 2-4 record at home that is of concern. With sellout crowds all season and one of the best atmosphere in the NBL, Tasmania would love to return MyState Bank Arena to the fortress it was last season during their run to the Grand Final series, and return the team to the post season,
But regardless of the location of the game, JackJumpers coach Scott Roth wants his team to bring the effort and energy for 40 minutes each night,
“The games will come fast and furious, there is no easy games on the schedule. Playing away or home so far in this league for the most part, nothing is really sacred. So you just go in there and play every game as hard as you can and see what happens,” he said.
Embed from Getty ImagesJackJumpers next 5 games
Dec 22 vs Illawarra @MyState Bank Arena
Dec 26 vs New Zealand @MyState Bank Arena
Dec 30 vs Sydney @Qudos Bank Arena
Jan 1 vs South East Melbourne @MyState Bank Arena
Jan 7 vs Melbourne United @MyState Bank Arena
