Is Tasmania the NBL's form side?

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

The Tasmania JackJumpers are currently on a five-game winning streak, and have won six of their last seven games.

The Tasmania JackJumpers have earned their way into a Playoff Series against the Perth Wildcats with their Seeding Qualifier win over Illawarra on Wednesday night, and Liam Santamaria has labelled Scott Roth’s side as the “form team of the competition”.

The JackJumpers emerged from their clash with the Hawks with a comfortable 16-point win, and Game 1 of their series against the Wildcats is set to be played in Perth next Friday night.

Tasmania closed out its regular season with a four-game winning streak, which included a 14-point win over Perth in Hobart in the final round of the season.

“If you’re a JackJumpers fan and you’re a part of that Ant Army, you’re starting to sniff a championship,” Santamaria said on NBL Now.

“They’ve been close this first couple of years but right now this is the form team of the competition. Melbourne and Perth, we haven’t seen them for a hot little minute and they sputtered towards the end of the season whereas Tasmania is on a red-hot winning streak and playing championship level basketball.

“If you’re the Perth Wildcats right now you’re feeling a little nervous about this group that’s coming into your building.

“They’ve had some really interesting battles over the course of the journey. They had one where they came back from 16 down, Perth, and Jordon Crawford had a shot to win it or tie it up, and of course Tasmania took care of them without Bryce Cotton in that last round of the season.

“There is some interesting tape to go back and look through.”

JackJumpers fans would have breathed a sigh of relief after Scott Roth’s post-game revelation that Marcus Lee’s shoulder injury looked to not be as serious as first feared.

Lee played just 22 seconds in the Seeding Qualifier win after suffering the injury in a collision with Sam Froling in the game’s first play.

He emerged from the changerooms sporting a sling, but Roth said he was “optimistic” Lee would be ok.

Santamaria says the importance of post-season basketball has a way of making players want to battle through injury.

“I feel like every injury at this time of year is ‘not as bad as first thought’. Zylan Cheatham, Will McDowell-White’s injury was ‘not as bad as first thought’," Santamaria said.

“Because these games are huge right now and guys are doing everything they can to be out there on the floor.”

Game 1 of Tasmania’s Playoff Series against Perth will tip off at 7:30pm AEDT on Friday, March 8, live on ESPN via Kayo.