The Tasmania JackJumpers have an early opportunity to make up for last weeks road loss to the Brisbane, when they face off again against the Bullets in Launceston on Saturday night.
The Bullets defeated Tasmania 90-87, in a a game where the home were in control for the majority of the game and Tasmania’s defence struggled to get regular stops against a Brisbane side missing key players Aron Baynes and Shannon Scott.
Since that game the Bullets welcomed Baynes back from suspension on Thursday where they picked up an impressive 108-92 home victory over the South East Melbourn Phoenix, making it three wins in a row for the Brisbane side.
This is the sides first ever meeting in Launceston, and the JackJumpers first home game in the north of the state for NBL24. The JackJumpers will be looking to improve their form at the Silverdome, where they have an overall 1-3 record at the venue.
Brisbane Bullets (5-4) v Tasmania JackJumpers (4-4)
Saturday, 5.30PM AEDT
Silverdome, Launceston
What to expect
Two teams playing each other twice in six days is a rare occurrence in the NBL, but expect a big improvement on the defensive end for the JackJumpers. In particular around Nathan Sobey who dropped 28 points on 10-16 shooting against the JJ’s on Sunday, which is well above his average of 16 points per game. With the next highest scorer in that game being Chris Smith’s 11 points, the JackJumpers will focus on getting the ball out of Sobey’s hands and forcing his team mates to make plays on the offensive end.
At the other end, Mitch Norton and Sam McDaniel did a great job at locking up the JJ’s two top offensive weapons Milton Doyle (7 points) and Jordon Crawford (16 points). So Tasmania will look to do a better job at getting these guys better opportunities. However the duo’s hot start to NBL 24 will see them targeted week in week out by their NBL opponents, so it will allow their team mates a bit more freedom to help offensively. Last week Jack McVeigh (18 points) and Majok Deng (17 points) and Sean MacDonald made an impact offensively, and will look to do the same again this weekend.
Embed from Getty ImagesKey match-up
Marcus Lee v Aron Baynes
After he was fouled out in just under 16 minutes of play when they met last weekend, expect the Bullets to target JJ’s big man Aron Baynes again in the post.
However this time its not just Tyrell Harrison and Roco Zikarsky, they also have Aron Baynes back in the team to throw at Lee. So don’t be surprised to see the Bullets look to target Lee in the post early to see if they can draw an early couple of fouls and get him off the court.
Embed from Getty ImagesLee is a great rim protector and plays excellent help defense for Tasmania, allowing the guards to be more aggressive on defense knowing Lee is there to help. Compared to the Bullets, the JackJumpers depth at the centre spot is thin, with Magnay still in the sidelines with injury the back up role is covered by Fabian Krslovic and occasionally by Majok Deng. However, despite his 17 points last game Deng had an overall +/- of -18 against the Bullets on Sunday, so his time out there as the sole big may me limited this weekend.
The Bullets did not start Baynes in his return to the side on Thursday, keeping with Tyrell Harrison. It will be interesting whether they start Baynes and look to use him to attack Lee in the opening minutes this weekend.
They said it
“I think from a team perspective we’ve got to make sure that we move the ball, whether we play man or zone we’ve got to keep the ball popping and we’ve got new guys in who can score the ball just as well as Milt so its going to be a collective effort to do so.
We’ll get to Launceston and you know we have not played well up there. I think we’ve only won one game up there and all the games have not been very good for us up there so we’ll have our hands full in that building and have to get over some of the demons.”
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth on playing in Launceston.
They’ve been sitting their all week since the last time we played them
We know they are going to be well prepared, throw some different things at us…..we know its going to be a really good contest down there and we honestly can’t wait to get into it.
Bullets head coach Justin Schueller, speaking after his sides win over SE Melbourne about on facing the Jackjumpers twice in six days.
Roster availability
Brisbane
Shannon Scott – Hamstring (Round 8)
Tasmania
Will Magnay – foot (TBC)