Preview: Tasmania v Brisbane

Saturday, October 8, 2022

The NBL's winless teams go head-to-head on Sunday as the JackJumpers welcome Brisbane to town.

When: 2pm (AEDT), Sunday 9 October 2022
Where: MyState Bank Arena, Hobart
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel; 10 Peach, 10 Play; Sky Sport NZ

Who won last time?

Tasmania 84 (McVeigh 15, Magette 15, Adams 14) d Brisbane 82 (Franks 21, Drmic 20, Patterson 17) – Round 17, NBL22 at Nissan Arena, Brisbane

The JJs led this by double-figures in the first, second and fourth quarters but the Bullets kept coming, pulling within a basket nine times but never able to pinch the lead. A hot final quarter from Lamar Patterson was not enough as Josh Magette made enough big plays down the stretch to keep Brisbane at bay.

What happened last game?

It was the JackJumpers trying to charge home in Auckland on Friday, but their woeful three-point shooting acted as saboteur, with only their relentless offensive rebounding giving them a chance. The Bullets made an impressive 17-5 run at the Kings to tie things up at final break, but some porous final-quarter defence allowed the champs to cruise to victory.

What’s working?

Hustle – The Tassie boys might be languishing at 0-3, averaging just 76ppg and shooting a rotten 41 per cent from the field, but it’s not for a lack of trying. The JJs lead the NBL in o-boards with 14.3 per game, well above the 7.9 average of the rest of the league, with Rashard Kelly leading the way on 3.3 and five other Ants averaging between 1.7 and 2.0.

Three-point accuracy – The Bullets are dropping a second-best 13.5 triples at a hot 42 per cent. Devondrick Walker has landed six treys in the two games, while Aron Baynes, Tyler Johnson, Nathan Sobey and Tanner Krebs have nailed four, all them shooting 40 per cent or better. It’s a marked early change for a team that averaged 8.6 at 32 per cent in NBL22.

What needs stopping?

Baynes balance – Yes, the big man has shot 4/10 from outside, but the amount of time he’s spent standing on the arc to achieve that comes at a cost. Against Sydney, the Bullets were smacked 28-52 on points in the paint, have been outscored by 45 points in ‘ones and twos’ across two contests, and have taken 67 twos and 65 three-point attempts. He’s known as ‘Banga’ for a reason, and Brisbane would benefit from a better balance of inside and out.

Rushed ball movement – The Tasmanian offence is reminiscent of early last season, with the ball moving at high speed, ball-screens being used without poise and opponents able to defend east-west with their basket rarely threatened. Post-ups for Jack McVeigh and Fabijan Krslovic brought composure to the O in the fourth quarter in New Zealand, allowing off-ball movement to eventuate, and more of that may help them finally post a winning score

Who’s matching up?

Milton Doyle v Nathan Sobey – Doyle’s assertiveness has been impressive, averaging 4.7 boards and 4.7 assists while getting up 12.3 shots per game. The problem is he’s making just 34 per cent and 4/22 from distance. After going 1/5 on threes in the season-opener, Sobes dropped 15 points on 3/4 in Sydney, but contributed just one dime and went without a rebound, while Brissy need him to stand up defensively so Doyle doesn’t find his range.

Jack McVeigh v DJ Mitchell – If there’s one good offensive story for Tasmania it’s McTrey, who dropped 19 points at 50 per cent against New Zealand, overcoming an off perimeter night by going 6/9 inside and grabbing four o-boards. Mitchell was also a standout on Friday, making Sydney pay for not respecting his stroke by draining 3/3 from range to finish with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists in his first career start.

Josh Magette v Tyler Johnson – NBL23 couldn’t have started much worse for Magette, who is 7/28 from the field and 3/15 from deep after putting in countless hours pre-season to get his shot back on track. Johnson has been solid as he sheds the rust of playing just six games last season, and while he’s shooting 52 per cent from the field and 44 per cent from outside, Brisbane need him to be more assertive to create more shots for himself and others.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TJ getting warm ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIVERCITYSTRONG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIVERCITYSTRONG</a> <a href="https://t.co/kWqiiw5NMy">pic.twitter.com/kWqiiw5NMy</a></p>— Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1578311031058665473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

It is more than 14 years since the Brisbane Bullets won a playoff game, so it might seem odd to be asking their fans for patience, but that’s exactly what was needed.

Their roster is the best it’s been since CJ Bruton, Ebi Ere, Sam Mackinnon and Co took out the 2007 title – and may well have gone back-to-back had injury not sidelined Sammy Mac – but Aron Baynes best summed up what’s missing after his NBL debut in Perth.

“He walked into the locker room and said, ‘Conditioning, conditioning, I've got to get conditioned’,” coach James Duncan revealed.

“It’s obvious he wants to perform at a high level, same with (Sobey), conditioning is a big thing.

“I don’t want to make any excuses … Sobes is trying to get himself conditioned, this is probably the best he’s looked since he’s been back, that was his fifth game.

“So we’re in the thick of it, we’re trying to get them conditioned but we’re playing regular season games now, so it’s a bit of a balancing act.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Baynes with the block. Baynes ON the block ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIVERCITYSTRONG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIVERCITYSTRONG</a> <a href="https://t.co/l7iZkrjEyq">pic.twitter.com/l7iZkrjEyq</a></p>— Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1578308809725837312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Patience is important for Duncan too. Last season he constantly preached defensive effort, attention to detail and “playing the right way” but was never able to get his team onto that page.

Now, two games into NBL23 his side has given up 87 to Perth and 100 to the Kings, but he believes little things can make a big difference.

“Five minutes left in the game, 82-81, right there, now it starts to become the details – get a good stop, offensive rebound. Get a good stop, offensive rebound,” he said.

“Going down to the other end, a couple of turnovers which you can’t do against the Kings at home and they took advantage of that.

“I can’t fault the effort but our execution in terms of the details to those things, I would say was a D in the last five minutes of the game.”

Duncan was buoyed by his new-look team’s offence clicking into gear as they scored 42 points in 15 minutes to open the second half.

“We've been talking about playing the right way, moving the ball, screening, spacing,” he said.

“We found a little bit of a rhythm, guys started to see it, you could see it in their faces, ‘We've found something’.

“It was basically all about moving the ball, making the extra pass, getting on the rim and if we weren’t on the rim kicking it out for some open threes, which we did a good job of.”

Of course, the question to be asked is whether that is the right way for a team featuring Baynes in the middle? Is having him spacing the floor on the three-point line while the Bullets score just 16 two-point baskets and grab nine o-boards from 37 misses astute?

That’s particularly pertinent coming up against the Magnay-less JackJumpers on Sunday, who struggled mightily to defend the middle in their opening two games.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Keanu Pinder opening the second half as he did the first. With a big ol' dunk ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> is live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/0XOaOVpSHt">pic.twitter.com/0XOaOVpSHt</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1576872403510366210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While they still allowed New Zealand to shoot 55 per cent from inside the arc on Friday, they only conceded 19 two-point baskets and gave up only 71 points, after leaking 95ppg in the opening round.

“The biggest thing is we started off putting a team on the foul line 29 times the first night we played and the second night we put 32 shots on the foul line against Cairns,” coach Scott Roth said.

“We kept (the Breakers) off the foul line, we were a little bit more disciplined, and there’s a tremendous amount of growth with this group, I'm excited about today and we ask them to carry it over into Sunday.”

As for his team’s spluttering offence, Roth isn’t too concerned, knowing the shots will start to drop if they continue to play the JackJumpers way that delivered so much success last season.

They grinded New Zealand’s offence to a halt late in Auckland, and will be hoping to do the same to the under-conditioned Bullets.

“The ball didn’t go in but I thought we competed at the level we are normally competing at,” Roth said.

“We have to play at a high level, we have very little margin for error in some aspects and to get (21) offensive rebounds, and just the scrappiness we showed I was quite proud of the group.

“The ball didn’t go in but to hold them to 25 points in the second half (was good).”