Game Details
Round 13, Tasmania JackJumpers (10-9, 6th) vs South East Melbourne Phoenix (12-8, 4th)
2pm AEDT Sunday 1 January @ MyState Bank Arena, Hobart
Watch: ESPN via Kayo/Foxtel
Listen: Cluch Radio
Game context
Tasmania and South East Melbourne kick off NBL Basketball for 2023 with a huge game of Sunday afternoon hoops in Hobart.
It’s the first meeting between the two sides since they opened the season back on 1 October, with the Phoenix taking the 84-79 win at John Cain Arena.
Tasmania will be looking to bounce back at home following their disappointing 97-77 loss to the Sydney Kings on Friday night. The JackJumpers were lacking the husserl energy we are used to, and completely overwhelmed on the rebounds and inside the paint by the Kings front line. The good news is after a shaky start at home, they have now won their last two games at MyState Bank Arena.
For the Phoenix, they have had a week’s break after playing three games in six days before Christmas. However, they have been dealing with illness and injury within the squad post Christmas which almost led to this game being postponed.
But the good news is the game is going ahead, and the undermanned Phoenix are welcoming back Alan Williams (16.2ppg and 9.2 rpg) to the lineup from an ankle injury.
After a glut of home games to start the season, the Phonix begin a long stretch of away game in Hobart. They will want to get a W and build momentum before they next assignments to Sydney and Cairns.
For the JackJumpers, a loss here could see them fall out of the top 6 as they battle the Sixers and Wildcats for the last two playoff spots. This match also ends a run of seven games in 15 days, and will want to finish strong
The key to this game for the Jackies is how they stop the Phoenix bigs. We saw on Friday they struggled to contain the Kings around the paint, and no doubt the phoenix will look to exploit that again through Mitch Creek, Alan Williams and Dane Pineu.
Stat facts
With a huge inside presence, the Phoenix play a more interior focused offense. This is why they lead the league in free throw attempts with 26.7 per game. The JackJumpers on the other hand have one of the smaller lineups on the NBL, with a slower offense that looks for open jump shots. They rank last in free throws with 16.1 attempts per game.
Lineups
For the JackJumpers Sam McDaniel and Matt Kenyon will miss the game due to calf injuries, replaced in the lineup by Isacc White (DP) and Sean McDonald (DP).
Phoenix regain Alan WIlliams returns from an ankle injury. But are missing Gary Browne, Ryan Broekhoff remain out due to injury while Zhou Qi has returned home to China for family reasons.
Owen Foxwell (DP), Anzac Rissetto (DP) and Tohi-Smith Milner (Nominated replacement player) come into the side to cover the losses.
What has been said
Following their loss on Friday night to the Kings, JackJumpers coach admitted things will not get any easier with the Phoenix, and will need to improve to compete with them
“They’ve got an explosive team, just like the one we just played with a lot of weapons and we’ll just do the best we can with them and our fight’s got to be a little bit better in general across the board,”
Meanwhile despite their overall 3-1 record over Tasmania, Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell said every match with them is a battle
“They don’t tend to lose games with stretches of poor play, you’ve got to go out and beat them,” Mitchell said.
“You’ve got to really scrap and fight pretty much every possession.
“We’ve got a pretty good record in the past against them and we were severely undermanned when we played them in Round 1 and got up, so we look forward to that challenge again.”
NBL 22-23 Matchups
The only meeting this season was when the Phoenix defeated the JackJumpers 94-89 in Melbourne. A short handed Phoenix had led for the majority of the match on the back of 30 points from Kyle Adnam. But Tasmania drew level in final quarter following some late points from Rashard Kelly and Milton Doyle. The JackJumpers had an opportunity to late to tie the game, but a broken play forced the turnover, and l clutch foul shooting from Creek and Adnam sealed the win.