Preview: Tasmania vs Perth – NBL24 Playoffs, Game 2

Monday, March 11 at 7:30pm AEDT | MyState Bank Arena

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

The Wildcats took out Game 1 of the Playoff Series against the JackJumpers, behind a Foot Locker Player of the Game performance from Keanu Pinder. The star center scored a game-high 25 points and made five three-pointers.

The JackJumpers led by as many as six points in the final quarter, but fell to eventually lose by eight points.

Tasmania has now lost the opening game of a Playoff Series in each of its three seasons in the NBL. The JackJumpers rebounded to defeat Melbourne in three games in NBL22, but fell to the Breakers in NBL23.

Both Will Magnay and Tai Webster were forced from the court in Game 1. Scott Roth was coy on the status of a potential foot injury post-game, but John Rillie expressed a belief Webster would be fine.

Jordon Crawford
Jordon Crawford took Game 1 by the scruff of the next in the first half, but pulled back in the second and allowed the game to catch up with him.

The diminutive guard dropped 13 points in a first half that saw Tasmania head into the half-time break with a three-point deficit, and he had played the leading role in keeping them in the game to that point.

He looked set to have another high-scoring performance, and the stage was set for him to repeat the final quarter efforts of his match-winning 32-point performance against the Kings earlier this season, but he took his foot off the offensive gas and only scored six points in the second half.

Of course, he remained involved in the game and supported teammates like Milton Doyle and Jack McVeigh go on scoring runs of their own through the second half, but his 1-6 three-point shooting will have left a niggling wonder of what might have been.

Each of Crawford, McVeigh and Doyle played well in the defeat, but if Tasmania is to extend its season beyond Monday, someone has to take the game by the scruff of the next for a full 40 minutes, not just a half.

Could that be Crawford? Time will tell.

“I think he was conscious of making sure others got invboled. There was a time there where Milton Doyle got going and Crawford knew his running-mate in the backcourt needed to get some action, and of course at the start of the fourth it was Jack McVeigh. He didn’t go on to have an enormous night, he had 13 at half-time and 19 by full-time. He was good, but they need some others to go with him.” – Liam Santamaria on the Coca-Cola Cool Down.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jordon Crawford with an absolute DIME ?<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/AljLmWBQJN">pic.twitter.com/AljLmWBQJN</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1758787805197602861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Keanu Pinder
The fact Keanu Pinder’s Game 1 performance against Tasmania is being heralded as the best of his NBL career is a showcase into just how dominant the former Taipan was, because after all, the back-to-back Most Improved Player winner was seen as a genuine MVP candidate, before injury derailed his NBL23 season with Cairns.

Under both Adam Forde and now John Rillie, Pinder has made his home in the paint while stepping out to the three-point line to hold his defender accountable.

In Game 1, the script was flipped.

Pinder was dialed in from three and played a game style that was more reminiscent of his debut NBL season with the Adelaide 36ers, where more than a quarter of his field goal attempts came from the three-point line.

With Tasmania’s center pairing of Will Magnay and Marcus Lee being such dominant paint presences, it dragged the JackJumpers defence out of their comfort zone, and laid the bedrock for Pinder’s supporting cast to go and get theirs across the entire game.

Pinder has implied his horror injury run last season saw high-level opportunities in the NBA come off the table at various points this season, and that reminder that he can be a lethal three-point threat shows exactly why there was global interest in the Wildcats superstar.

He’s undoubtedly got a key role to play in Game 2, but the question remains if the JackJumpers are going to show increased respect to his three-point shooting, and if not, can he repeat his Game 1 efforts?

“It was a career-best performance, and that’s for a guy who’s a two-time Most Improved recipient. It was a huge performance from Pinder. The three-point shooting was I think the difference-maker in this game – his three-point shooting – because you’ve got Marcus Lee or Will Magnay trying to guard him and they want to stay close to the rim and protect the cup and he forced them to come out and challenge him from long-range. If he misses those, Tasmania has an enormous advantage on the defensive end.” – Liam Santamaria on the Coca-Cola Cool Down.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Built for the moment ?<br> <br>Keanu Pinder delivered a season-best performance in the <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a>&#39; Game 1 victory against Tasmania ?? <a href="https://t.co/LNl8YRJFvC">pic.twitter.com/LNl8YRJFvC</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1766285515756884044?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sean Macdonald vs Jordan Usher
Game 1 of this series was a tight contest of runs and momentum, and given the performances and form of these two sides over the course of the entire campaign – you can all but lock in a similar type of clash in Game 2.

One crucial area the Wildcats found an offensive advantage en route to their eight-point win though was their bench punch, which was led by Jordan Usher, while the JackJumpers struggled to get their second unit a high number of quality looks.

Usher scored 11 points – only behind Keanu Pinder and Bryce Cotton for the Wildcats – and was part of a secondary unit that added 25 points to the final score. Macdonald, on the other hand, added five of Tasmania’s 15 bench points in the contest.

The battle between Macdonald and Usher looms as more of a battle between the spearheads of the backup brigades as opposed to either of their status as game-winning talents – although that has been proven across this season.

Usher has found his niche within this Wildcats roster since his move to the bench in the regular season, while Macdonald has become Tasmania’s first point-of-call for Scott Roth when he’s looking to switch up Tasmania’s guard play, despite the Most Improved Player’s status as a development player.

Tasmania needs more punch from its bench if the JackJumpers’ season is to be extended past Monday, while the Wildcats will be thrilled with the impact Usher and company had on proceedings in Game 1.

Both Usher and Macdonald have the ability to come out and torch a defence in a matter of minutes, but who can stand tall from the pine to put their team in a winning position?

Sean Macdonald and Jordan Usher.

The home team has won six of the last seven games between Tasmania and Perth. The only away victory in that period came in Round 6, NBL23, when Josh Magette and Jack McVeigh led the JackJumpers to an eight-point win at RAC Arena.

Tasmania
Nil

Perth
Nil