Preview: Tasmania vs Melbourne – NBL24 Championship Series, Game 2

Friday, March 22 at 7:30pm AEDT | MyState Bank 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.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">United make a statement in Game 1 ?<br><br>Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. dominated and is the Foot Locker Player of the Game ?<br><br>Game 2 Friday. <a href="https://t.co/j2yAF21ma7">pic.twitter.com/j2yAF21ma7</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1769257202114859448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Tasmania
Scott Roth has defended misfiring guard Jordon Crawford, and says people are looking to “crucify” the import for not shooting at a certain percentage. Crawford has scored a total of 12 points on 5-28 shooting across his last three games.

Roth also leapt to the defence of Tasmania after Dean Vickerman’s “little island” comments leading into Game 1. Tasmanian former AFL footballer Jack Riewoldt praised Roth’s leadership and community-mindedness on a special edition episode of NBL Now.

Derek Rucker believes the form of guard duo Jordon Crawford and Sean Macdonald will be key to Tasmania’s Game 2 hopes, and added the series is a great learning opportunity for Macdonald in facing two of the best on-ball defenders in the competition, in Shea Ili and Matthew Dellavedova, during crunch time.

Melbourne
Chris Goulding said the likely intense atmosphere at MyState Bank Arena will be like “going home” due to him spending the early years of his life in Launceston, and added a loud and intimidating crowd is a far easier prospect to face than the silence of an empty stadium.

Derek Rucker believes the tight and contested Playoff Series between Melbourne and Illawarra helped prime United to take on the JackJumpers, and that the Game 1 win will act as something of a pressure release.

Mattthew Dellavedova said his side wants Chris Goulding to increase his volume of three-point attempts over the course of the series. The sharpshooter attempted 10 threes in the Game 1 win, and needs to make just 19 more for the campaign to set a new all-time NBL season record.

Melbourne assistant coach and five-time NBL champion David Barlow says the club is preparing for as many eventualities as possible ahead of Game 2, and has likened the impending tactical battle to a game of chess.

Jordon Crawford
This season we’ve seen Jordon Crawford win games of basketball off his own hot hand. The diminutive guard has formed a fearsome offensive trio alongside Jack McVeigh and Milton Doyle all season, and the run of form seen from Will Magnay has only elevated Tasmania’s offensive threat.

Crawford’s current run of form means Tasmania’s primary offensive punch remains a trio though, with Magnay taking his place as one of the key cogs, but that doesn’t necessarily need to be the case.

Crawford has shot a combined 5-28 across the last three Finals games, however that run of indifferent shooting can be extended out even further, as he has hit just five of his last 25 three-point attempts over a six-game span.

This isn’t the first time this season Crawford has had a difficult shooting run. Between rounds 12 and 14 he embarked on a three-game stretch where he averaged nine points per game on 23 per cent shooting (26 per cent from three).

He pulled himself out of that slump with a solid 13-point performance against Brisbane in Round 15, and then scored over 20 points in three of Tasmania’s next four games – including in a 21-point win over Melbourne in Round 16.

Nobody really got firing in Tasmania’s Game 1 loss – although Anthony Drmic deserves a special shoutout for his season-high 18 points – and Crawford looked the least likely to get going.

If he can re-find his range and get that offensive swagger back though, this game could be Tasmania’s to lose.

“I think people are trying to crucify the kid because he wasn’t shooting the ball at some kind of percentage or not, but it is what it is. This is not a one-man show, and if a guy has a bad shooting night, he has a bad shooting night in a big game. There’s no one person on this team we need to get up and running” Scott Roth following the Game 1 defeat to Melbourne.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Can Jordon Crawford get back to his best for Game 2? ?<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/derekrucker5?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@derekrucker5</a> discussed the <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JackJumpers</a> star’s recent play on the Coca-Cola Cool Down ??<br> <br>Watch the full episode: <a href="https://t.co/buInYotNdX">https://t.co/buInYotNdX</a> <a href="https://t.co/8DQqX6qNIE">pic.twitter.com/8DQqX6qNIE</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1769523684103053811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Chris Goulding
Chris Goulding accounted for over a third of Melbourne’s total three-point attempts in their Game 1 win on Sunday night, but if Matthew Dellavedova's words are a guide, United want their sharpshooting captain to account for even more of their shots from range over the rest of the series.

When you look at the numbers, of course Melbourne want Goulding to take as many three-point attempts as possible. He’s made almost twice as many threes (1174) as any other player in the 40-minute era, and sits sixth in NBL history in that metric.

He’s also only 19 three-point attempts behind Shane Heal’s 2002-2003 record 144 three-pointers made across a season, which is a record set when games were 48 minutes long, and Heal played 37 times.

The beauty about Goulding’s shooting from range is he isn’t only a catch-and-shoot specialist, and he doesn’t even need to be open for shots to drop. He’s a threat as soon as he steps into the offensive half, and holds the defence accountable at all times and on all positions on the floor.

Dellavedova cited the desire to get Goulding more three-point shots because not only does it help Melbourne on the scoreboard, but it adds a defensive gravity to him that allows teammates to find themselves in more space.

He’s attempted 10 threes or more in 16 of his 32 appearances this season, and has attempted 15 in a game four separate times.

If he can repeat his Round 8 performance against Sydney where he exploded for 35 points and hit eight of 15 attempted threes, it could be game over for Tasmania.

“He’s got all kinds of shots and it’s on us to try to continue to get him as many looks as possible, and then also use his gravity to get some easy looks as well. It's been a focus all year, he’s had an amazing season, and we all know what he can do when he gets even a little bit of an opening ... the more three-point attempts we can get from him, the better. It’s just trying to get the volume up.” – Matthew Dellavedova mid-week.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This ‘3 ball’ by Chris Goulding is one of the top 5 shots I’ve ever seen in the <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBL</a> <br>Absolutely insane degree of difficulty - late shot clock, contested and catch high ‘Klay Ball’ release. ELITE <a href="https://t.co/UjcS6ySoQS">pic.twitter.com/UjcS6ySoQS</a></p>&mdash; Derek Rucker (@derekrucker5) <a href="https://twitter.com/derekrucker5/status/1769917398327726517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Will Magnay vs Jo Lual-Acuil Jr
With Will Magnay in foul trouble over the course of Game 1, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr absolutely ate.

The South Sudanese center demolished any defence that was thrown at him, whether it came in the form of Marcus Lee, Fabijan Krslovic, or even Jack McVeigh. JLA was a man on a mission and he wouldn’t be stopped.

He ended the game with a 22-point, 11-rebound performance that saw him earn Foot Locker Player of the Game. He helped keep the notoriously strong offensive rebounding JackJumpers off the glass, and oulled in a game-high four offensive boards himself.

In short, it was the Lual-Acuil Jr that positioned himself as an MVP candidate in NBL22, and it was the Lual-Acuil Jr that injury and unavailability has prevented us from seeing as consistently as we’d like this season.

Magnay being able to stay on the floor is going to be absolutely crucial to Tasmania’s hopes of stopped JLA if he begins to run rampant again, and we saw how the talented big can be slowed as recently as against Illawarra in the recent Playoff Series.

Magnay was still effective when he managed to be on the floor – he ended the game with 10 points and five rebounds in 13 minutes – but his absence cost the JackJumpers dearly.

It remains to be seen whether Marcus Lee will be reinjected into the starting five at the expense of Magnay, but Lee’s ability to lock down the paint and set a defensive tone for Magnay to come in and follow has worked for Tasmania all season.

While both Lee and Ariel Hukporti will have crucial roles in determining the result of the interior matchup in this game, the main card is undoubtedly the impending physical battle between Magnay and Lual-Acuil Jr – and the main question hinges on both of their abilities to stay on the floor.

Will Magnay and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr.

Tasmania
Nil

Melbourne
Nil