Game Preview Seeding Qualifier - Tasmania JackJumpers v Illawarra Hawks

Seeding Qualifier – Tasmania JackJumpers V Illawarra Hawks

Wednesday 28 February, 5.30pm tip-off AEDT

MyState Bank Arena

Concourse opens 4.00pm

Doors: Internal 4.30pm  

Watch LIVE on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel

 

State of Play

Tasmania will be looking to take full home court advantage in front of a passionate ant army crowd for the first game of the post season. They’ll want to get off to a strong start with Illawarra winning the first half of it’s last 5 games.

Scott Roth has said his side’s focus is primarily on how the JackJumpers can execute their own game plan, rather than anything the Hawks might do.

Jack McVeigh and Sean Macdonald were among the award winners at the NBL’s MVP awards night. McVeigh was in the All-NBL Second Team, while Macdonald was named the competition’s Most Improved Player.

Damon Lowery has labelled the home JackJumpers crowd as “worth 12 points”, and stated on NBL Now that he believes the fans could be a difference-maker in this clash. The comments came after Roth said this season is so tight that home court advantage will likely not be decisive.

Both sides have the double chance, but will want to lock up a play offs berth and progress to play Perth, rather than going the long way around and risking facing either the Breakers or Sydney.

 

Fun facts

Will Magnay ranks 1st amongst qualified players for blocks per game (1.7) this season.

Tasmania has won each of its last four games.

Tasmania ranks 1st in the league for net rating this season (+8.6).

Illawarra ranks 1st for fast break points per game (10.8) this season.

 

Form Guides

Tasmania
86-72 win over Perth
94-67 win over South East Melbourne
109-86 win over Adelaide

Illawarra
87-92 loss to Melbourne
108-92 win over Perth
106-95 win over Sydney

 

 Last time they met  

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 15

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 107 (Crawford 24, Doyle 19, McVeigh 17)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 108 (Clark 25, Froling 23, Robinson 21)

The Illawarra Hawks learned the hard way how hard it is to put away the Tasmania JackJumpers but in double overtime they prevailed 108-107 thanks to a late Tyler Harvey three back in mid-January.

The Hawks turned a one-point lead at the half into a 12-point advantage with three minutes to go at MyState Bank Arena despite missing their first 12 three-point attempts.

What happened from there and for the next 13 minutes of game time was remarkable.

Milton Doyle had missed all four of his three-point attempts up to that point, but after his Tasmania teammates Jordon Crawford (24 points, four assists) and Jack McVeigh (17 points, six rebounds) landed from downtown, he stepped up.

He knocked down two long-range bombs in the final 13 seconds of regulation to tie scores up at 86-86 to send the game into overtime.

Doyle then looked like he would be the game-winning hero when he hit two more triples on his way to 19 points and six assists in extra time.

However, he soon fouled out and Harvey (19 points) was fouled with under a second left.

The Hawks star guard made all three attempts to tie things up at 99-99 to force a second overtime.

The JackJumpers were already without Doyle and McVeigh who had fouled out, and Will Magnay (13 points, seven rebounds, three blocks) soon joined them after starting the second overtime with a big block on Sam Froling and then a three-point play.

This time it was the Hawks turn to pull it out of the fire. A three from Harvey with 30 seconds to go ended up sealing the deal as they won in double overtime to continue their charge under interim coach Justin Tatum.

 

Fun Facts

Illawarra has lost four of its last five Finals games.

Illawarra’s only Finals win in that period came in a Game 1 of its NBL21 series against Perth, where current Hawk Todd Blanchfield had 24 points for the Wildcats in a two-point loss.

 

SRT Logistics Coaches’ take

Head Coach Scott Roth said I mean they obviously to me are the hottest team coming into this tournament. I think probably ourselves and them are probably playing probably a little bit better basketball at the end of the year. I think this all six teams have a chance to win a championship and we put ourselves in a really good spot and worked very hard to get to this third spot to have home court possibly twice if needed. But it's put us in a good position and we'll see if we can capitalize on it”

 

Ins & outs 

Tasmania JackJumpers: Majok Deng returns to the line up for the first time since injuring his ankle in the Christmas Day game.

Illawarra Hawks: TBC

 

Opponents on the Radar

Gary Clark
Gary Clark has been a revelation in the second half of NBL24. Rarely does an import throw themselves so wholeheartedly into a team and its community, especially after only initially signing on a one-year deal.

Clark has established himself as one of the best players in the NBL during the Hawks’ incredible run under Justin Tatum, and that record was rightly acknowledged by his inclusion in the All-NBL First Team.