The Tasmania JackJumpers will be searching for their opening win of NBL24 this Friday, as they welcome reigning champions the Sydney Kings to MyState Banks Arena.
JackJumpers v Sydney Kings
Friday, 7.30PM AEDT
MyState Bank Arena, Hobart
After going down 91-86 to the Perth Wildcats on the road in Round One, the JackJumpers will be looking to bounce-back in front of their home fans.
Meanwhile the Sydney Kings will look to pick up another win on the road, after accounting for the Illawarrra Hawks 100-90 in Wollongong on Saturday.
The game will feature a clash of game styles, with the Kings looking to run a fast-paced running offence, looking disrupting Tasmania’s defence. While the JackJumpers will betry to slow the game down and force them into half-court basketball, which the Kings struggled with at time during the NBL Blitz. Whoever get the game played on their terms will go a long way in determining the winner.
New lineups
Both sides rosters are looking different this season, with a number of new signings in the off-season. After winning the championship, the Kings are back with a new coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah and a new starting five. Led by NBL22 MVP Jalen Adams, he is joined by Jaylin Galloway, Denzel Valentine, Jordan Hunter and Next Star Alex Toohey.
Tasmania also feature a number of new faces making their MyState Arena debuts. Imports Marcus Lee and Jordon Crawford are joined by locals Majok Deng, Anthony Drmic, Junior Madut
Embed from Getty ImagesKey stats
15/34 – 44% – the Kings three point shooting from their opening game of the season against illawarra.
This is a key change to Abdelfattah’s offense with the Kings this season. Its only one game, but a huge change in style from the team who shot the least amount of three point attempts per game in NBL23 (24.4 attempts).
Key matchup
Adams vs Crawford
One player who JackJumpers fans will be familiar with is NBL22 MVP Jaylen Adams, who led the Kings to Championship in NBL22 over the JackJumpers.
He looked solid in his return to the league in round one scoring 20 points against Illawarra. Similar to what Tasmania has with Milton Doyle, Adams was often the Kings closer and had a reputation for finding the bottom of the net when his team needed it most. New JackJumpers recruit Jordon Crawford will have his hands full keeping his impact to a minimum.
Embed from Getty ImagesBut despite early questions about fitting into the JackJumpers defensive mindset, Crawford has been solid on the defensive end. What he lacks in heigh he makes up for in speed, and will be doing all he can to keep Adams away from the lane and forcing the jump shot.
A noted scorer himself, Crawford will be looking at attacking the rim at the offensive end. But will look for improvement on his shot, where he shot 5/14 against the Wildcats for 13 points.
Embed from Getty ImagesQuotes
“They re-loaded with a lot of weapons – high tempo team, want to get out in transition, early shot clock. So similar to previous years when we have played them, it will test our transition defence and if we don’t fix those self-inflicted errors and sloppy turnovers [that we had against Wildcats] they are going to run it straight back at us and its going to be hard to recover from,” JackJumpers captain Clint Steindl said at training this week.
“I wouldn’t say the Kings are the most liked team going into Tasmania after two years ago … we know they’re going to be physical and they’ve got some returning players like Milton Doyle and Jack McVeigh,” Sydney Kings CEO Chris Pongrass told Fox Sports on Monday.
“We want to take it one game at a time and look at that as a tough environment to go and play in. Our players love it though … a lot of them have told us Tasmania and Perth are the two places to go and play.” Mr Pongrass said.
Roster availability
Tasmania
Will Magnay – foot (return Round 4)
Sydney
Sam Timmins – calf (return TBC)
DJ Hogg – shoulder (return TBC)