Preview: Tasmania v Perth

When: 8pm (AEDT), Saturday 22 October 2022
Where: MyState Bank Arena, Hobart
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel; Sky NZ
Live scores & stats

Who won last time?

Tasmania 85 (McVeigh 19, Steindl 15, Adams 14) d Perth 83 (Cotton 23, Blanchfield 19, Law 16) – Round 17, NBL22 at RAC Arena, Perth

This was the beginning of the end for Perth’s playoff streak, which would still be alive had they held on to their three-point lead with two minutes to play. Entering the game at 14-6, top spot was still on the Wildcats’ minds, but a huge three-point play from Clint Steindl with a minute to go, followed by a massive trey by Josh Adams secured Tasmania’s first ever win in The Jungle and sparked a fateful run of six Perth losses from their final eight games.

What happened last game?

The JackJumpers secured their first-ever road double in Round 3, ‘pantsing’ the 36ers in front of a huge Adelaide crowd on Friday, before brutally locking down Melbourne’s brittle offence less than 48 hours later. United had spent too many petrol tickets on Friday in Perth, where a wayward three-point shooting night from Bryce Cotton and Co saw the 'Cats fall to Melbourne for the seventh straight time at home.

What’s working?

Aggressive defence – Perth were forcing a league-high 20 turnovers per game after three outings and converting that into 28ppg or 31 per cent of their total score. They still forced Melbourne into 16 miscues last round, but only turned that into 13 points from turnovers, with 10 of those miscues in dead-ball situations. Tassie were +24 in points from turnovers in dual Round 3 wins, so the ability to convert easy points will be crucial on Saturday.

Bench defence – The likes of Rashard Kelly, Jarred Bairstow, Jarrad Weeks and Sean Macdonald are making a huge impact at the defensive end. In the 27 minutes Tasmania had two or more reserves on the floor, Melbourne scored just 36 points at 39 per cent, compared to 28 points at 50 per cent in the other 13 minutes. Not surprisingly, the average plus-minus for the JackJumpers’ benchies was +12, compared to -2 for their starting quintet.

What needs stopping?

Luke Travers & gun scorers – There’s nothing mythical about The Mullet’s playmaking, Travers impressively sitting fourth on the NBL’s assist tally with 5.3apg in 25 minutes. He logged seven dimes against Melbourne last week, with three to both Bryce Cotton and Corey Webster. Twice he found Bryce for triples from out-of-bounds plays, thrice he found his two scoring guards on backdoor cuts, while twice his penetration opened up looks.

Glass demons – Tasmania are the NBL’s best rebounding team, ranking first in defensive rebounding percentage (77%) and third in o-boards (30%). To highlight what a ‘team’ the JJs are, only Rashard Kelly (7.8rpg) averages more than five boards, but eight teammates pull in between 2.0 and 4.8. The JackJumpers are +34 on second chance points in NBL23 but -28 across all other facets, showing the importance of matching their hunger for caroms.

Who’s matching up?

Rashard Kelly v TaShawn Thomas – In Tassie’s three-straight wins, Kelly has delivered 46 points, 27 rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks, contributing all over the floor. In last week’s double, he led the JJ’s reserves to a 73-30 advantage in bench scoring. With Thomas possibly coming off the pine as he returns from injury, this versatile pair will go head-to-head, TaShawn’s passing ability possibly a key feature of Perth’s second unit.

Jack McVeigh v Brady Manek – After Tassie started 0-3, few would have imagined they could peel off three-straight Ws with McVeigh shooting 5/22 from deep. But that’s what happened, and if McSpray returns to being McTrey, the JJs become very hard to guard. Manek started the season 3/14 from the arc, but his past two games he’s nailed 5/9, while adding 14 boards, four steals, three assists and three blocks to add some all-court punch.

Milton Doyle v Bryce Cotton – So, Bryce is leading the league in scoring, nothing new there. But the maestro is shooting just 24 per cent from three, making up for it by scoring 12.6ppg from two-point range at a sizzling 58 per cent, up from 8.3ppg last season. It’s a similar story for Doyle, who is shooting 26 per cent from outside but 67 per cent inside. Cotton is dishing 3.8apg, Milton 3.7apg, showing the importance of keeping this pair of SGs out of the lane.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bryce Cotton is PURE MAGIC.?<br><br>? Watch live on ESPN via Kayo &amp; Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/GDa3LRBpdt">pic.twitter.com/GDa3LRBpdt</a></p>&mdash; Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1580893892719030273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

Perth coach John Rillie’s response to questioning around the physicality of last week’s clash with Melbourne summed it up perfectly.

“When you get two teams that have a lot of pride in their franchise that’s the kind of contest you're going to get,” he said.

That’s what you’re going to get on Saturday night in the Anthill, because no one has more pride than these JackJumpers.

It seems a remarkable achievement given how new the club is, but perhaps not when you consider they grabbed two coaches and three players from Perth so they could emulate the NBL’s most successful side.

“Scott Roth and Jacob (Chance) have done wonders over there,” Bryce Cotton said about his former assistance coaches.

“They’ve done a good job of recruiting the right players to fit their system and it seems like they’re picking up where they left off.

“We’re not going in there looking past them at all, it’s a team we’ve got to respect and obviously they’re going to try and protect their home floor.”

Yet while the public focus in on Perth’s 10 titles and playoff streak, what Roth and the JackJumpers took from the culture of the 'Cats was their focus on the day-to-day that creates big-picture success.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rashard with the big exclamation mark ??? <a href="https://t.co/fCy6ONR4es">pic.twitter.com/fCy6ONR4es</a></p>&mdash; Tasmania JackJumpers ? (@JackJumpers) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers/status/1580504292607549441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“I’ve said this many times, I’ll take high character guys over talent,” Roth said.

For so long under Rob Beveridge and Trevor Gleeson, the Wildcats dominated the glass all around the league, and not surprisingly Tasmania is now doing the same.

“We work on this continuously, everyone says we’re undersized, we’re not athletic, they give us a lot of good labels, but really it’s all about the work ethic of doing your job,” Roth said.

“We continue to think about gang rebounding as a group, we try to do that offensively, it’s one of the stables we work on at practice every day.

“Size is great and athletic ability is great, but there’s got to be some kind of a want to go and get the ball, and that’s what we work on.”

Perth were long the kings of ball pressure, a trademark they’ve returned to under coach Rillie to lead the league in defensive turnover percentage.

The JackJumpers currently sit third in that category after ranking number one en route to last season’s grand final, thanks to the relentless energy coming off their bench, which will be boosted this week by Sam McDaniel’s return.

“It’s by design in the sense that as long as they're doing the work and showing up at practice they're going to get a chance to play. We’re missing three of those guys, we don’t talk about those guys because we've got enough in our locker room to win,” Roth said.

“The way we play you have to go 10 deep, I’ll play 11 if I have to do, to continue to put pressure on teams, put pressure on the ball, that takes a toll on you.

“Our guys respond in the minutes they get, and when they get those opportunities they take advantage of it.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Weeksy starts the fourth with a bang ? <a href="https://t.co/AG3xzr5WKE">pic.twitter.com/AG3xzr5WKE</a></p>&mdash; Tasmania JackJumpers ? (@JackJumpers) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers/status/1581503742280536064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Seany Mac is a great example of it ... he's done a very good job defensively for us with his size, he gets what we’re doing, he's quite competitive and can shoot the ball, and as long as he keeps producing he’s going to get on the floor.”

Perth focus is producing early inside the deafening MyState Bank Arena after being outscored by 24 points in the opening four minutes of games this season, before going +70 in the other 144 minutes.

“All four games to start this season, we’ve started off sluggish in the first three or four minutes,” Cotton said.

“If we can have a better start, we put ourselves in a better position rather than having to play catch up all the time.”

For Roth, it’s just playing that relentless style for 40 minutes and seeing where the cards lay at the end, as they did in their clinical shutdown of Melbourne United.

“Our defensive capability is always going to be with us ,” he said.

“It’s always going to allow us a chance to win a game, and they were quite confrontational and tough and I loved it.”