The Tasmania JackJumpers have turned in one of their best team performances of the season to defeat the undermanned SE Melbourne Phoenix a 99-74 at MyState Bank Arena on Sunday afternoon.
The commanding win was built off strong defensive pressure. Which began in the first quarter when the home side powered to a 32-18 quarter time lead having forced eight turnovers.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Phoenix struggles holding onto the ball continued for the duration of the game, as they gave up 25 turnovers for the game, resulting in Tasmania scoring 32 points from turnovers.
“Their pressure on the floor, obviously we handled that really poorly and just their physicality and their ability to apply weight and pressure on us. We didn’t handle it well, ” Phoenix Coach Simon Mitchell said post game.
Tasmania had contributors all over the floor but it was Milton Doyle who was providing at both ends with 25 points, seven points and six steals. He was well supported by Isaac White, the development player had a career high 18 points, all in the first half, including seven points in a minute which summarized the JJ’s domination at both ends of the floor.
The JackJumpers maintaining the 14 point lead to halftime, but the Phoenix opened the second half 7-0 run and cut the lead to just seven points. But a timeout by Scott Roth steadied his teams, and went on to finish off the quarter 20-5.
“I think the beginning of the third we were quite sloppy for three of for minutes there and wasn’t happy about that obviously but then we found out footing again. So those consistencies are something we continue to harp on, on both ends of the floor and hopefully we can continue to improve on it,” Scott Roth said.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe team finished off with a strong last quarter to win by 25 points, with five players reaching double figures in scoring.
For the Phoenix, already missing Ryan Broekhoff, Gary Browne and Zhou Qi, were dealt a further blow in the second quarter when guard Trey Kel III injured his left knee and sat the remainder of the game. They shorthanded Phoenix were led by Alan Williams (21 points) and Mitch Creek (18 joints), but struggled to find other ways to score, this was none more evident that the duo combining for SE Melbourne’s first 29 points.
Improvement from Friday
The JJ’s were a completely different team to the one that were outclassed by the Sydney Kings by 20 points on Friday night, with significant improvements thier energy and defensive efforts.
“Credit to Sydney, they took us out of a lot of things we were doing and that is what it is. But today we got back on track, had some conversations and video work and our guys just came in with a really good mindset and just more on the attacking mode and playing on the front foot instead of the back foot,” Scott Roth said.
After only grabbing 20 rebounds as a team against the Kings and being outscored in the paint 56-20. The JackJumpers turned those numbers around winning the rebounds 47-39, including 22 offensive rebounds and won points in the paint 48-36.
Up Next
After seven games in 15 days Tasmania (11-9) have a week long break before they host Melbourne United ( on Sunday 8 January.
