Heath, work rate, concentration behind the rise

Sometimes your team playing well can be as simple as having your full squad back together and that's what Scott Roth is seeing with the Tasmania JackJumpers, but it goes hand in hand with maturing, better concentration and improved work rate.

The JackJumpers produced a standout all-round performance last Friday night to beat the league-leading Adelaide 36ers on their home floor while holding them to their lowest score (72) of the season on the back of a lowest second quarter (11) and first half (27).

That improved Tasmania to a 12-13 record on the season having won six of the last nine matches now and it's no coincidence that has gone hand in hand with David Johnson and Majok Deng returning from injuries, and playing key roles.

Then you have first-year imports Tyger Campbell and Bryce Hamilton settling into the NBL, the front court of Will Magnay and Josh Bannan with Deng standing firm, and Nick Marshall emerging as a standout two-way player as well on the back of a tremendous defensive job on Bryce Cotton.

Roth has always said this JackJumpers team in NBL26 will always be a work in progress and he likes the direction they are heading going to Perth for HoopsFest this week where they have another battle with Melbourne United on Saturday night.

"I guess our work rate's been better and so has our concentration levels, and also getting guys healthy and getting guys back and in tune has been important," Roth said.

"Look at a team like Adelaide who haven’t had any injuries this entire season that have been lengthy like we've gone through and every other team has gone through so when you start to get your guys slowly back, and DJ gets his feet underneath him, and Majok Deng comes back and Magnay is healthier, it's nice to just have the group together.

"We continue to just do what we do and keep things quite simple with what we do as far as how we practice and go about our business, and our formula is quite simple really to just do what we do and try to repeat it in the simplest ways possible."

The JackJumpers maintained a lead the entire second half on the way to the eight-point win against the league-leading 36ers to stay solid in sixth place with his team's defence and foul discipline to keep Adelaide off the foul line the entire first half key for Roth.

"The three ball's this great equaliser in professional basketball and it's obviously a huge factor in FIBA basketball so we've been quite mindful at trying to do the best we can to defend it," Roth said.

"We've heavily concentrated on trying to take those way even though you can't take them all away, and then I think the other thing is just our foul discipline over the last month has been much, much better.

"Last time we played these guys I think it was 33 and 37 times they went to the line in the first two games, and that foul discipline will always come back to haunt you so it's these little things that we continue to harp on about repeating on the defensive side, and just trying to keep things as simple as basic as we can to guard your yard and keep the ball in front of you."

One aspect that has been a little source of frustration in recent weeks has been their inability to convert their free throws with Bannan having some struggles in that area.

He is only going at 65 per cent for the season at the stripe, but he made four clutch ones at the death on Friday night to seal the win in Adelaide and Roth has never doubted he'd bounce back given last season at the Bullets he went at 81 per cent and the season prior at 75.

"His history has been that he hasn’t been a great foul shooter, but above average without question and you have to trust the fact that he's doing the work and he's doing all of the things he needs to do in our practices," Roth said.

"And it's the same with Magnay and you have to trust what they're doing and the way to break their confidence is to take them out at the end of a game because you don't think they can make a foul shot.

"He's a good enough shooter at the foul line to shoot in the mid to high 70s and that's usually where he's living even though he's had a few struggles here and there.

"But seeing those go in late in the game as they did I'm sure is a really good morale booster for him."

After a stretch of playing six games across 14 days either side of the New Year, the JackJumpers finally had time to take stock, freshen up and work on some things before the trip to Adelaide on Friday.

While it didn’t necessarily lead to the practice sessions Roth was hoping for, he does see the benefits from having a bit more time in between games for the playing group which he hopes pays off again when they take on Melbourne United on Saturday night in Perth as part of HoopsFest.

Then they will have to ready themselves for another hectic schedule with five games across 16 days starting away to Sydney on January 22 and wrapping up at home to the Brisbane Bullets on February 6.

"We had a rough four days back at home and gave them some time off, but we didn’t have two very good practices before we came here and we were rough around the edges, and sloppy in some areas," Roth said.

"But I think the break was good for us in general and this now will be the last one we'll have before the season's over before we head to Perth and for us you can spin those breaks anyone you want to, good or bad for your team.

"One thing we do is we work extremely hard during the break and we don’t give a lot of days off, and guys have to show up and we'll just go back to work again before we head to Perth, and once we get over there."