Preview: New Zealand v Tasmania

Thursday, October 6, 2022

Barry Brown and the Breakers are looking to put on a party as they finally return to Spark Arena, welcoming a JackJumpers team they've never conquered.

When: 5.30pm (AEDT), Friday 7 October, 2022
Where: Spark Arena, Auckland
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel; Sky Sports NZ

Who won the last time?

Tasmania 88 (Adams 23, McVeigh 16, McIntosh 12) d New Zealand 86 (Loe 27, Siva 13, Bach 12) – Round 20, NBL22 at MyState Bank Arena, Hobart

When the potentially playoff-bound JackJumpers jumped 12 ahead of the wooden-spooners in the opening term, this looked like a case of how far Tassie? But Rob Loe made a stand as the Breakers showed their toughness, pulling ahead by six in the final term. Josh Adams wasn’t going to let this one slip, however, his eight points in five minutes sealing the deal.

What happened last game?

Tasmania’s opening round wasn’t one to remember, missing a bunch of bunnies in the first half against the Phoenix, then failing to find an answer to Kyle Adnam as he held off their late charge, before being blown away by Cairns at home. The Breakers played some high-quality basketball in Melbourne, with new import Barry Brown and Dererk Pardon both impressive, and were perhaps a shot-clock violation away from a memorable overtime W.

What’s working?

Versatile line-ups – New coach Mody Maor is enjoying the versatility of his roster, starting big last week with Jarell Brantley at small forward, then going mobile with JB at the four and Rayan Rupert on the wing. Barry Brown’s ability to play any of the perimeter positions is another handy string to the bow, as is the perimeter shooting of front-courters Rob Loe and Tom Vodanovich. How will the Breakers start against the undersized JJs?

Sean Macdonald – Tassie’s 42 per cent three-point shooting across two Round 1 outings was impressive, and they’ve largely got Macdonald and Co to thank for that. The JJs were +4 with their DP on the floor, compared to -31 with him seated, as S-Mac drained 6/8 from deep and the JackJumpers bench ran up 72 points on 11/19 triples to be +25. In contrast, the starters managed a moderate 12/34 from range and were outscored by 52 points.

What needs stopping?

Rim runs – While the Breakers were heaving jumpers all pre-season long, come the real stuff and they were rim-running with the best of them, destroying Melbourne 73-47 in scoring from ‘ones and twos’ while shooting a blistering 62 per cent from inside the arc. Pardon and Brown combined for 40 of those points, giving Tasmania plenty to ponder.

Leaking like a sieve – Given the JackJumpers have been outscored by 36 points from ‘ones and twos’, leaking 59 per cent from two-point range and 61 free-throw attempts, change needs to happen in order to counter New Zealand’s athletes. Tasmania blocked just three shots across two games, and must find ways to keep opponents in front of them.

Who’s matching up?

Dererk Pardon v Rashard Kelly – One Tasmanian positive from Round 1 was Kelly, who racked up 33 points in 42 minutes, showing he can score in multiple ways. He had good activity on the glass, but the JJs would like to see him increase his 5rpg. That was no issue for the energiser-like Pardon, who ripped in 12 rebounds to go with his 23 points at 80 per cent. Will Scott Roth move Kelly into the starting five to counter Pardon’s athleticism?

Will McDowell-White v Josh Magette – Over two games Magette shot 4/17 from the field, and that’s not going to deliver many JJs wins, even if he is dishing 6.5apg. McDowell-White was superb against Melbourne with 13 rebounds, seven assists and just two turnovers, while shooting a steady 4/9 from the field. WMW will team with Izayah Le’afa to make Magette’s life tough, with Gette shooting just 11/32 against Le’afa and South East Melbourne last season.

Barry Brown v Milton Doyle – This shapes as the match-up of the night, with Brown making an outstanding first impression last Sunday. While his 2/11 from range was inefficient, his 23 points at 50 per cent inside, five assists, four boards and no turnovers were as impressive as his quick first step. Doyle has the length to defend him, and he’ll be looking to rectify his 2/13 outside shooting shocker that overshadowed his 26-point, nine-assist weekend.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Barry Brown throws it ? to Dererk Pardon for the jam!<br><br>Sky Sport 3<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/pU8pSQLbdK">pic.twitter.com/pU8pSQLbdK</a></p>— Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1576426763118182401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

The Tasmania JackJumpers are about to walk into a storm, and they know it.

“That crowd is going to be jumping after they haven’t played there for almost two years,” centre Jarred Bairstow said.

“We have no doubts the place is going to be going off, so we have to not give the crowd anything the get hyped about.?We have to come in on point from the start and not let them get away.”

Of course, they got caught in a different kind of storm on Monday night, when the Taipans blew them off their own home floor.

Cairns made a mockery of the JackJumpers’ once vaunted defence, shooting 62 per cent from inside, landing 12 threes at 41 per cent outside and getting to the foul line a whopping 32 times.

In reality, Sydney carved the JJs defence in the grand final series, Scott Roth’s men struggled to defend in two of their three Blitz games, and now two games into NBL23 they’ve failed to guard the interior.

While that appears to be a worrying trend, new import Milton Doyle believes it’s little things making a big difference.

“It’s miscommunication and small breakdowns,” he said.

“We’ve been fouling a little too much and letting teams live on the line and allowing them to just make free throws and that’s been hurting us a lot.”

While it may be little technical details, it’s a major issue for a team that built its remarkable debut season on being hard to play against every single night.

“It’s about making them work a little bit harder for their points and making teams play through us and shoot over us and make tough shots,” Doyle said.

“The biggest thing is bring your defence with you everywhere you go. You may not always make shots all the time but defence follows you.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rashard Kelly is getting it done on both ends to get the <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JackJumpers</a> back into this one ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> is live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/djS69KqqJo">pic.twitter.com/djS69KqqJo</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1576879802975682560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Defence did not follow New Zealand as they moved from hotel to hotel last season, ranking clear last in defensive rating, defensive field-goal percentage and opposition scores from ‘ones and twos’.

However, Breakers fans would have come away from last Sunday’s overtime loss in Melbourne full of optimism, given their team’s commitment at the defensive end.

United were held to just 42 per cent shooting and only 15 made two-point field goals as the Kiwis went +26 on scores from inside the arc.

No one typified the Breakers’ new hard-nosed approach more than import forward Jarell Brantley, who defended multiple positions with energy and toughness.

“JB sacrificed for the team. He’s a power forward, but we needed him to play [small forward] because we were missing Tom (Abercrombie),” coach Mody Maor said.

“He was really good defensively, he competed, and gave us everything he could from an effort standpoint.”

Brantley wasn’t alone however, and Maor will be confident his team is buying in at that end of the floor.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Get you a Point Guard that protects the rim ?<br><br>Then go get yourself some tickets to our first home game of the season ?<a href="https://t.co/BZhd4c4YiC">https://t.co/BZhd4c4YiC</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/WgxDkRl8Ux">pic.twitter.com/WgxDkRl8Ux</a></p>— Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1577115556909436928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

At the same time, he knows how dangerous Tasmania can be from the three-point arc, a significant concern given Melbourne dropped a match-winning 18 triples at 47 per cent on his team.

The JackJumpers won all four meetings between the teams last season, and Maor described their 0-2 record as “misleading” given their tight loss to South East Melbourne and the familiarity in their squad.

“They are polar opposite to us, this is a team with the smallest amount of turnover in the league,” he said.

“They’re more ready from that regard, but we like our chances against everyone and believe we have a chance every time we step on the floor.”

And, for the first time in a long time, they’re stepping on their own home floor, with a huge Spark Arena crowd likely to create an incredible atmosphere.

“Over the last 24 hours I can feel the nerves and the excitement. Just the buzz around is something we haven’t felt for two years,” Maor told NZ media.

“It’s special. We can sense the energy and want to take this energy to a good place, and make it something that puts a burst of wind under our wings and not a weight on our shoulders.”