Tasmania JackJumpers 65 (Josh Adams 21 points, Clint Steindl 17)
defeated by
Illawarra Hawks 91 (Antonius Cleveland 22 points, Justinian Jessup 17 points)
Boxscore
It wasn’t a happy return to Launceston for the Tasmania JackJumpers, where the visiting Illawarra Hawks put a defensive masterclass to win 91-65.
The 26 point loss was JackJumpers biggest of the season, as they simply were unable to get their offence going after quarter time, when they held a nine point lead.
After that point the Hawks defense took hold as they outscored Tasmania 74-39 in the final three quarters.
But the hawks were also doing it at the offensive end. They played great team basketball with six players reach double figures, led by Antonius Cleveland’s 22.
With both teams chasing a playoff position, the match was built up with a finals type atmosphere. But it was the Tasmania who threw the first punches in this battle, as they took at early lead through their captain Clint Steindl.
After finishing with a game high 21 points and six made threes against the Hawks less than a week ago, Steindl was repeating the dose in the first quarter.
He subbed in with three minutes remaining in the first quarter, and quickly made three baskets from long range to lead all scorers with 9 at quarter time. He was a key part of the team shooting six of eight from outside in the opening quarter.
Clint is heating up from deep early 🔥
— Tasmania JackJumpers 🐜 (@JackJumpers) March 19, 2022
live now on @ESPNAusNZ / @kayosports pic.twitter.com/acdp14uFWc
But the Hawks clawed their way back into the game in the second quarter. Defensively they were forcing turnovers and making Tasmania take difficult low percentage shots late in offence. After being on fire in the first the JackJumpers slumped to just 5 of 19 for the quarter, with only one field goal made inside the three point line.
Offensively the Hawks were looking to use their size advantage, as Reath and Cleveland were outmuscling the smaller JackJumpers under the basket. While on the outside Jessup and Coenraad were finding their range as they scored a season-high 32 points for the quarter and take an eight point lead into half time.
The Hawks continued to extend the lead in the second half through their defensive pressure. Holding the JackJumpers to just 24 points for the half.
Josh Adams was the main threat for Tasmania offensively, but had to work hard all night for his points. Despite having success driving to the basket, he had trouble getting opportunities to penetrate and most of his shots came from outside. This summarised the struggles the team had throughout the game, and just couldn’t match the physicality to play inside.
This was further seen through foul shooting stats, with Adams and McVeigh the only JackJumpers to make it to the charity stripe (10 attempts total). While the Hawks had six players take 23 attempts.
After the match, JackJumpers coach spoke about the Hawks physical game.
“If you want to get into the playoffs and you want to play playoff style basketball that was a great example of just a physical game, and they were much more physical, much more dominant team. I thought they did an outstanding job of just owning the floor at both ends of the floor,” he said.
But the main talking point of the game was the altercation between Roth and Cleveland at the final buzzer. With Roth taking exception to Cleveland’s celebrating, which appeared to mock Roth’s recent post game celebrations.
Things got heated after Illawarra’s win in Tasmania.#NBL22 live on @ESPNAusNZ + @kayosports 📺 pic.twitter.com/jxkoyErcZh
— NBL (@NBL) March 19, 2022
Roth had to be physically restrained on several occasions. He is well know for his passion on the floor and was sticking up for his team. However, appearing to “go after” a player is not something the NBL will too thrilled with, and may face disciplinary action. After the game Roth didn’t detail much about the incident.
“I really don’t have any comments on that. I spoke to Goorj [Illawarra Coach Brian Goorjian] about it, and Goorj said he would handle it. Goorj is first class all he way and I’ll let him handle his team,” Scott Roth said.
Embed from Getty ImagesKey Takeaways from the game
Turnovers
Usually one of the better defensive teams in the NBL, the JackJumpers were outperformed by the Hawks defense. They forced 16 turnover to X, which led to 17 points.
Deans Debut
One of the brighter parts of the second half was to see Launceston local Serj Deans make his NBL in the final quarter. Deans spoke about making his debut post match:
“It was very exciting being a local and getting to play in my home town was very special. Unfortunately we couldn’t get it done tonight, but it was pretty special for me”. Deans said.
