Magette Responds in Style

Josh Magette has struggled to find his shot in the opening stanza of the NBL23 season and his difficulties have been reflected in his team's performances, but as the JackJumpers cruised to their second straight win Magette looks to have got his form back on track.

It was telling that development player Sean MacDonald was preferred to the 31-year-old floor general in last week's overtime win against Brisbane, while Jarrad Weeks has often been injected into games at the expense of the import guard.

Magette came out with a point to prove against a hyped up Adelaide 36ers on Friday night though. He put up four three-pointers in the first quarter alone and shot 5/8 for the game for 23 points but that was far from his only impact.

He also finished with seven assists, four rebounds and four steals with his point guard crafted further highlighted by the fact the JackJumpers outscored the 36ers by 32 points in his 30 minutes on the floor.

“I thought he was fantastic,” Tasmania head coach Scott Roth said of the guard.

“Seeing the ball go through is a huge part of basketball in general, and for him to see the ball go through was a relief for all of us.

”Importantly, I liked his intent defensively right off the bat, he was scrappy and it set the tone for us. He’s very solid with the ball and is a low turnover guy and it was a good night for him.”

Magette credits his teammates with helping him find form again.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MAGETTE ABOUT IT.<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JackJumpers</a> floor general has 17 points midway through the second quarter on 5/6 from deep ? <br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports <a href="https://t.co/dQ7ydYcOed">pic.twitter.com/dQ7ydYcOed</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1580486808818720768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“It’s always nice when the first one or two go in and you can play a little more freely that way. I’ve been struggling a bit to start the season,” he said.

“I felt that I wasn’t myself and I let the team down, but they’ve rallied around me this past week with a lot of positive feedback.

“A lot of the shots feel good and that’s the game of basketball, they don’t fall sometimes. Just falling back on the work we put in and the routine we have, they went in tonight so I’m very grateful.”

After losing their first three games by an average of 11 points the JackJumpers now find themselves in the top six - however they've played more games than any other side in the competition.

They're next in action on Sunday afternoon against Melbourne United at John Cain Arena.