Preview: Melbourne vs Tasmania - Championship Series, Game 3

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Who wins in Melbourne to place one hand on the championship trophy?

Sunday, March 24 at 5:30pm AEDT | John Cain Arena

Watch: Live on ESPN via Kayo | International viewership details
Box scores: Download the free NBL App

Game 1
Melbourne emerged as 23-point winners from the Championship Series opener, in a game where Tasmania looked competitive in the first quarter but buckled under United’s defensive pressure as the game wore on.

Jo Lual-Acuil Jr was named Foot Locker Player of the Game for his dominant performance inside, while Chris Goulding his six threes en route to a game-high 22 points.

Luke Travers has been near-universally praised for his defensive performance on Jack McVeigh, and ended the game with four blocks.

Will Magnay played just 13 minutes due to picking up four fouls over his short time on court, while Anthony Drmic top scored for Tasmania with 18 points.

Jordon Crawford’s poor run of shooting form continued, and he finished the game with seven points on 3-13 shooting.

Game 2
Tasmania travelled back to MyState Bank Arena to defend the island in Game 2 of the Championship Series, and a surging comeback from a 15-point deficit saw the JackJumpers emerge from Friday’s clash with a hard-fought and emotional five-point win.

Jordon Crawford shot the lights out in the first quarter with 13 points in the opening term alone, but quietened late and remained sat on the bench in favour of Sean Macdonald down the stretch.

Only Milton Doyle and Jack McVeigh ended the game having played more minutes than Macdonald for Tasmania, and the development player added 13 points and a staunch rearguard action in the win.

Melbourne found itself in foul trouble in the second half, and all three of Jo Lual-Acuil Jr, Shea Ili and Ian Clark fouled out of the game, while Matthew Dellavedova and Chris Goulding ended the clash with three fouls apiece.

Ili was the game’s top scorer with 20 points, while Goulding ended the clash with 19.

Matthew Dellavedova
Matthew Dellavedova’s unsportsmanlike foul has become one of the talking points of the late stages of Game 2.

Tasmania led by just one-point with eight seconds remaining, and Dellavedova’s elite one-on-one defence caused Milton Doyle to have to put up a prayer at the end of the shot clock. Jack McVeigh grabbed the offensive rebounds, and Dellavedova then went careening into the star forward and handed Tasmania two free throws and possession.

That singular, potentially game-altering moment is indicative of Melbourne’s larger performance. The defensive physicality and intent was there, but the line was just overstepped at crucial moments to allow the JackJumpers back into the game.

Prior to those final seconds Dellavedova hadn’t quite lived up to the lofty run of form he’d set during Melbourne’s Finals run. He ended the game with just six points on 3-12 shooting, and missed all five of his three-point attempts.

His seven assists are worth noting as well, but after helping inspire Melbourne United so often during their opening four games of their NBL Finals run, he just couldn’t do it again in Game 2.

Dellavedova is far too good and far too experienced to let anything from that game get into his head, and it’s more than likely his poor shooting night just came on a night where his whole team struggled to get going in much of the second half, but could that stopping of Dellavedova prove to be the key to Tasmania winning Game 3?

“I haven’t watched it so I won’t comment on it. Obviously you feel that in some ways that decides the game, so it would have to be pretty severe. We’ll have a look at it but there’s nothing we can do about it right now, but disappointing it was called." - Dean Vickerman post-game on Matthew Dellavedova's unsportsmanlike foul.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Good find Dell. <br><br>? ESPN via Kayo Freebies | 10 Peach & 10 Play <a href="https://t.co/W7WVn8gIMD">pic.twitter.com/W7WVn8gIMD</a></p>— Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1771095991472505295?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Jordon Crawford
There had been so much discussion surrounding Jordon Crawford’s shooting leading into Game 2, and for the opening quarter it looked like he had shot any doubts around his form into smithereens. He had 13 points in the opening term and was almost single-handedly willing Tasmania to stay in the game.

Then, he stopped, and then, he remained rooted to the bench as Sean Macdonald was preferred to him in the late stages of the game.

All in all Crawford played roughly 20 minutes in Game 2, which was fewer than fellow starters Milton Doyle, Jack McVeigh and Anthony Drmic, and development player Macdonald.

He ended the game with those 13 points he scored in the first quarter on a more than capable 5-11 shooting, and those gremlins that were keeping the ball out of the rim for him look to have gone away.

Despite that, Game 2 likely raised more questions than answers around the diminutive guard and how Scott Roth will continue to use him for the remainder of this series, because as influential as Crawford was in the early stages of the game, gee Macdonald looked lively to round out proceedings.

Where to from here for Scott Roth and his guard rotations?

“I think Jordon played well, he had some turnovers that were careless but were it not for Jordon’s contributions in the first quarter and a bit of the second quarter, the JackJumpers may have been in a worse position. I think he did enough in this game to draw some confidence and feel good about himself heading into Game 3.” – Derek Rucker on the Coca-Cola Cool Down.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jordon Crawford has his eye in early ?<br><br>Catch the Finals action live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies | 10 Peach & 10 Play ? <a href="https://t.co/5FRldasmd1">pic.twitter.com/5FRldasmd1</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1771094935275446439?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Dean Vickerman vs Scott Roth
We’ve seen the best and the worst from both Melbourne and Tasmania in the opening two games of this series. We’ve seen players from each side step up when needed, but we’ve also seen stars struggle.

The strategic chess match being played was on full display in Game 2. Dean Vickerman injected Kyle Bowen into proceedings and kept him on court down the stretch as Melbourne chased victory, while Scott Roth turned to Sean Macdonald to provide that extra point of difference for Tasmania.

In Game 1 it was Scott Roth preferring Fabijan Krslovic over Marcus Lee, and Dean Vickerman moving away from the three-ball and attacking the paint as a result.

The previously clear rotations in this series are already being muddied as each coach continues to search for every possible advantage that could see his side eek out a series victory, and there will almost certainly be more surprises thrown up in Game 3.

Could it be Flynn Cameron who makes himself a hero after only playing four seconds on Friday night? Or what about Majok Deng coming in to torch Melbourne like he did Perth in the Playoffs?

Who can alter their defensive scheme to make sure their team is the one to make the final quarter charge we’ve seen in each game of the series so far?

If anything, the first two games of this series have raised more questions than answers in regards to how Melbourne and Tasmania are going to tweak their plans to exploit each other, and that sense of unknowing is part of what will make Game 3 must-watch theatre.