Tasmania promised Melbourne United a sellout home crowd and a relentless attitude, and they delivered, beating the reigning champions on Saturday night and forcing a deciding game three in their NBL semi-final series on Monday.
The JackJumpers willed their way into the finals in their inaugural season, and they rode the energy from a capacity 4300 fans at MyState Bank Arena claiming a 79-72 win to level the best-of-three series 1-1.
Jarrad Weeks of the JackJumpers gets a pass away against Melbourne United on Saturday night.Credit:Getty Images
Jack McVeigh led the home side with 15 points as six other players scored six points or more, but where the JackJumpers won was at the defensive end as they locked down the key and denied Melbourne open three-point attempts. They lost the rebound count by only four after being soundly beaten in game one.
Chris Goulding led United with 18 points and Caleb Agada scored 16 points, but United again struggled from outside, shooting six of 33.
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“They got a lot of fight,” an emotional Tasmania coach Scott Roth told ESPN.
“We’ve been gang-rebounding in the last 20 games, and it was the reason we had won 15 of those last 20. I’m super proud of everyone. What a place.”
In the words of captain Clint Steindl, the JackJumpers drew a line in the sand from game one and pledged to rebound as a team, defend aggressively and beat Melbourne in the physical battle.
For half a game they were true to that pledge, taking away Melbourne’s three-point shots and their easy lay-ups while creating more offence for each other with some nifty passing and well-designed plays.
JackJumpers force a decider against Melbourne United
Source: Philippines Alive
