Match Recap: Round 21 v Tasmania JackJumpers

Melbourne United have dropped their final game of the NBL22 regular season, suffering their biggest loss of the season on the road against the Tasmania JackJumpers.

Missing Matthew Dellavedova and David Barlow, and with Jack White limited coming into the game with back tightness, United were going to have to dig deep for the victory.

The defending champs were up against it early, as Tassie couldn’t seem to miss, hitting five of their first six shots, including a trio of three pointers from Josh Adams.
Trailing 15-5, Caleb Agada, who was inserted into the starting lineup, stepped up in a big way.

The Olympian put Melbourne on his back, scoring 14 points in the first quarter while leading the visitors on a 15-2 run, including a four-minute stretch where they held the JJs scoreless.

This push allowed United to take a 20-18 advantage into the first break.After going without a basket in the opening term, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr took advantage of his mismatches down low in the second period.

JLA started the quarter with a pair of buckets in the first few minutes, ultimately finishing with 10 points in the quarter.

Outside of Big Jo, United’s scoring slowed, with Melbourne’s only other baskets coming from two makes from beyond the arc from Shea Ili and Brad Newley.
The visitors were able to hold onto a four-point lead heading into the major break thanks to their own terrific defence, which limited Tassie to just 33 points in the first half.

Looking to keep their positive momentum going coming out of half-time, United faltered.

Josh Adams quickly scored four unanswered points for the JJs and from there the floodgates opened.

Tasmania outscored Melbourne 29-7 across the first nine minutes of action, pulling ahead by as many as 18 points in the quarter before taking a 16 point lead into the final period.

Needing a huge effort across the final 10 minutes, United’s undermanned lineup simply couldn’t keep up with the JJs.

The home side outscored Melbourne 21-15 in the fourth quarter, as they struggled to keep up with Tasmania’s pace.Despite the loss, United will head into the Hungry Jack’s NBL Finals on top of the NBL ladder, and will face either Perth or Tasmania on Thursday evening at John Cain Arena.