Preview: Perth v Tasmania (Round 6)

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Perth have dropped four on the trot and are looking for vengeance on a Tasmania team that humuliated them in Hobart two weeks ago.

When: 9.30pm (AEDT), Thursday 3 November 2022
Where: RAC Arena, Perth
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel; Sky NZ

Who won last time?

Tasmania 103 (McVeigh 17, Kelly 16, Doyle 15) d Perth 72 (Cotton 14, Travers 12) – Round 4 at MyState Bank Arena, Hobart

This was a demolition of the highest order, the JackJumpers’ highest score and largest winning margin in their short history. They put on an offensive clinic, running hard off Perth misses, moving the ball and sucking the Wildcats defence in with rollers and aggressive penetration, before finding open shooters as seven JackJumper drained a combined 17 triples.

What happened last game?

For Tasmania, this was a demolition of the highest order, but not in a good way. They marched into Auckland hoping to jump the Breakers on the ladder, but left with their stingers between their legs after copping the largest defeat in their short history. Perth’s Round 5 was only marginally better, falling by one to South East Melbourne in a classic in The Jugle, then being thoroughly outclassed by a struggling Melbourne team to the tune of 17 points.

What’s working?

Sharing and shooting – The Auckland aberration aside, the JackJumpers’ offence has been humming recently, averaging 91ppg on 13.8 triples at 38 per cent during their four-game winning streak while handing out 17.8 assists per night. Jack McVeigh, Fabijan Krslovic, Milton Doyle, Josh Magette and Rashard Kelly have all been game-leading scorers in that stretch.

Bryce Cotton – Across two games last round the Perth superstar accumulated 46 points on 8/16 from deep and 12/12 from the foul line, while dealing 11 assists to just three turnovers. However, in previous years when opponents have thrown too many eggs in the Bryce basket the 'Cats have made them pay, whereas this new unit is still figuring out its counters.

What needs stopping?

Giving up – With four minutes remaining in the third term, Tasmania trailed the Breakers 46-43, and in the most uncharacteristic 14 minutes for the hugely-respected club, they were smashed 48-19. While part of that was extending the defence to try and retrieve a margin, there was a complete lack of starch in their performance they’ll want to atone for in Perth.

Giving up – With five minutes remaining in the second term, Perth trailed the JackJumpers 39-32, and in the next 13 minutes were blown away 41-18, their defence collapsing as the Tasmanians shot 15/24. While it wasn’t as bad in Melbourne on Monday, the 'Cats were still outscored 36-21 in 15 minutes bridging three-quarter-time with little resistance.

Who’s matching up?

Bryce Cotton v Matt Kenyon – This was a most remarkable defensive performance from Kenny and Co, keeping Cotton to just six shot attempts, the second-fewest he’s taking in his now long and distinguished NBL career, while also forcing him into five turnovers. It was just the third time in the past three seasons Bryce has had more cough-ups than dimes. At the other end, Kenyon went 4/6 from deep, making it very hard for the Wildcats to help off him.

Mitch Norton v Josh Magette – Norton’s diving offensive rebound late in the game against South East Melbourne, which allowed TaShawn Thomas to put the 'Cats ahead, typified what Perth fans are used to getting from their Damian Martin replacement. And while that hasn’t been consistent as he struggles to get to full fitness, the Wildcats need him to make life miserable for Magette, given he had 10 assists, one turnover and a game-high +18 in the Round 4 clash.

TaShawn Thomas v Rashard Kelly – Both these hardened import forwards are starting to show their star qualities. Thomas has produced 27 points at 57 per cent, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in 55 minutes the past two games, and while Kelly had a shocker in New Zealand, his five outings before that delivered 15ppg at 55 per cent inside and 9rpg. While the guard battles will get the headlines, this match-up of creative but powerful bigs could be pivotal.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BRYCE COTTON SLAMS IT HOME! ?<br><br>? Watch live on ESPN via Kayo & Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/reYAAWfYWb">pic.twitter.com/reYAAWfYWb</a></p>— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1585953482057535489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

So John, what happened last time you played Tasmania?

“Tasmania were very good, Perth Wildcats not so good,” said 'Cats coach John Rillie post-game in Hobart.

While off shooting nights can and do happen, the Red Army are not used to defensive capitulations like that night at MyState Bank Arena, and it prompted club great Matt Knight to bemoan the Wildcats’ lost culture.

“It’s one of those things where it just snowballs, they make a couple and their confidence gets going and all of a sudden everyone’s feeling good about themselves,” Rillie said.

“Our pressure and our containment, contesting those shots wasn’t at the level to be disruptive tonight. They capitalised on our mistakes, that’s for sure.”

Those things were just symptoms of Perth's lack of effort and intensity, getting smashed in the possession game which they were once kings of.

“The turnovers, the rebounding, they played with great purpose and intent. We couldn’t create that momentum ourselves on offence, and when you turn the ball over or give them a number of opportunities to score it’s tough to get any momentum,” Rillie said.

“We've got to look at some things, changing defences, being a little more assertive and then offensively feeling confident what we can do to get a bucket.”

They couldn’t get a bucket because the JackJumpers denied Bryce Cotton at every opportunity, and made him pass out of double-teams most times he got his hands on the Spalding.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The skip from outside the arc. <br><br>? Watch live on ESPN via Kayo & Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/PLsiG6wUxL">pic.twitter.com/PLsiG6wUxL</a></p>— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1587022115915431936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Rather than having teammates in good receiver spots to exploit that aggressive D, Cotton was often forced to pass backwards, allowing Tassie’s defence to load up again.

“We know he’s going to get that attention and to his credit, he is an unselfish willing passer, he lets the game come to him,” Rillie said.

“So for us, it’s always going to be about making the right decision, making the right pass, trusting your teammate because then when that happens the attention doesn’t have to be so centred on Bryce.”

The man they need to stop at the other end is Milton Doyle.

The smooth-moving American not only burned Perth in the JJ’s decisive second-quarter run to finish with 15 points at 67 per cent, but backed it up in Auckland with 22 points on 9/18 shooting, while all his teammates combined for just 40 points on 13/47.

Perhaps more concerning for coach Scott Roth was New Zealand running up 94 points at 50 per cent.

“You get a big piece of humble pie in this league and we got our butts handed to us,” he said.

“When (opponents) put two 30-point quarters together it’s very hard to sustain anything and the two games were we have gotten smacked – this one and against Cairns – we have given up 30-point quarters, so to have multiple ones in a game is hard to survive.”

Returning forward Sam McDaniel thought it was a most un-JackJumper like display.

“I’d like to think we were ready, but they were more physical than us, they had better pressure than us and they were hitting shots as well,” he said.

“On our side we've got to be better with our rotations, our communication, there are a lot more areas we can grow in.”

But coach Roth is keeping things in perspective, knowing that his team has done well to be at .500 despite missing multiple key pieces through the opening month of NBL23.

“It is what it is. We’re sitting 4-4 and we've had, to me, the toughest stretch of the season which is over with,” he said.

“It was a little bit of trying to survive October to get to where we are, and I'm not satisfied but I'm quite relieved that we’re sitting in the position we are.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MD like you've never seen<br><br>Tune in on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/BBsqzhf0uU">pic.twitter.com/BBsqzhf0uU</a></p>— Tasmania JackJumpers ? (@JackJumpers) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers/status/1583760067752759297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Coach Rillie is dealing with some early pressure as the new leader of the NBL’s most storied club after four straight defeats, but he is also keeping his eye on the present.

“I’m not about kneejerk reacting,” he said.

“Obviously if you get to a point where you need to make some wholesale changes, but I would say we’re underperforming as a team.”

Rather than focusing on who is missing shots, he’s preaching to his team to cut down the missed assignments, missed rotations and missed boxouts that have his team sitting ninth for defensive rating, after leading that category after three rounds.

“Our defence hasn’t been anywhere where we want it to be in our last couple of games,” he said.

“The way we play, if one guy isn’t doing his job, it impacts the next guy so then it looks like we’re not a very good defensive team.

“If we’re all back on the same page and working cohesively, we’ll be pretty good.”