Tassie’s plan to strangle Sydney

THE Tasmania JackJumpers must suffocate the Sydney Kings with their dogged defence to achieve one of the biggest boilovers in Australian sporting history.

That’s the good oil from two blokes who know a thing or two about basketball.

Legendary guards Shane Heal and Derek Rucker have collectively played 851 NBL games, so they understand what it takes to succeed.

Heal and Rucker both agree the Kings are the strong favourites to win their first championship in 17 seasons on the back of red-hot offence.

Throw in Sydney’s dominant depth and the boys from the Harbour City have at least five players with the ability to score in double figures.

In contrast, Tasmania were second last in scoring during the regular season and last in field goal percentage.

These statistics are daunting, but Heal believes the JackJumpers are capable of causing an upset if they can maintain their energy on defence.

“The Kings want to get out and run with all their flair and firepower, so Tassie needs to clog it up,” Heal said.

“But the JackJumpers will just have to pick their poison because if they focus too much on Jaylen Adams, there will be other players ready to hurt them. Tassie need to have a general mindset of keeping the Kings out of the paint and making them shoot contested threes.

“The success the JackJumpers have had is by trying to slow teams down, so they need to restrict the Kings and force them to play in the halfcourt.

“That is how they’ve had success and they have to maintain it.”

Star guard Josh Adams will steer Tasmania offensively, but Heal says the JackJumpers need another player to share the workload.

“Because if everyone is at their normal average, I don’t think Tassie can score enough points,” he said. “They’ll need someone like Jack McVeigh to have a big game or Josh Magette or Clint Steindl to knock down six threes.”

If this year’s grand final were played on paper, Heal has no doubts that Sydney would hammer Tasmania. Thankfully, that’s not the case and the JackJumpers have a chance.

“The good thing is that the game isn’t played on paper, and you get an opportunity to go and overachieve,” he said.

“That is exactly what the JackJumpers have done through hard work and effort – qualities coach Scott Roth demands. All the players have followed Roth’s lead, and they aren’t doing things they’re not capable of.”

Capability, however, is something Sydney has in spades. The Kings are loaded with talent and offensive threats while swingman Xavier Cooks is a potent beast at both ends of the floor.

If Rucker were coaching Sydney, he’d urge his charges to play an up-tempo style to wipe the JackJumpers off the floor.

“The Kings have got a real opportunity to inflict some psychological damage on Tassie,” Rucker said.

“I want to see Sydney’s length and athleticism getting up and down the court to make Tasmania uncomfortable with the pace of the game. The Kings have to jar this belief system that the JackJumpers have built, and if they do, they can put themselves in a strong position to seal the series.”