WNBL finals: Lauren Jackson winds back clock to send Southside Flyers to grand final with win over Melbourne Boomers
Embarrassed by a game-two semi final capitulation, legendary Lauren Jackson wound back the clock with a vintage 38-point explosion that booked Southside into the WNBL grand final.
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Lauren Jackson has evoked memories of her stunning 2022 World Cup bronze medal triumph with a vintage explosion to propel Southside into the WNBL grand final — and book herself a shot at a sixth Australian league championship.
A day out from her stunning 38-point, 11-rebound tour de force that sewed up a 93-77 game-three win over Melbourne, Jackson refused to close the door on her WNBL career.
That door is now off the hinges as the 196cm giant refused to lose, using her size, strength and nous to pick apart the Boomers in a stand reminiscent of the matchwinning 30-point, 7-rebound effort that helped the Opals secure bronze in Sydney.
And, while Jackson’s emotional “I’m done” after last month’s Olympic qualifiers in Brazil appeared to put a full stop on her famed international career, Opals coach Sandy Brondello must at least ask the question ahead of Paris, given the magnitude of the four-time Olympian’s performance.
It’s 14 years since Jackson won the last of her five WNBL titles - on the same floor as Wednesday night’s triumph - where she was named 2010 grand final MVP for the Canberra Capitals.
Last season was ruined by injury and she was forced to watch on as the Flyers lost the grand final to Townsville.
This time, they’ll have a GOAT to lean on.
“I was there last year, just on the sideline in a moonboot,” said Jackson on the WNBL broadcast on Kayo Sports.
“It’s a lot different now. It’s taken me a long time to get back.
“(Coach) Cheryl (Chambers), right from day dot was like ‘you know what, it’s not about this end of the season, it’s about the back end’.
“I wanted to do things right now but she’s been patient with me.
“Now I can do a lot more on court, between games.
“We’ve still got a long way to go, yet.
“We still have to work on stuff and get better because Perth is a great team and they’re playing some good basketball right now.”
Jackson produced a semi final series for the ages, averaging 26 points and seven rebounds as the Flyers sealed a 2-1 result.
Those at Parkville’s Melbourne Sports Centres were witness to a rare treat of dominant inside-outside play from the 42-year-old who made 15 of her 22 shots on a night where her epic turnaround jumpshot would have made Dallas Mavericks NBA great Dirk Nowitzki blush.
And the Flyers fed off the four-time WNBL MVP’s legendary aura, running roughshod through a Boomers team that had hammered them by 21 on the same floor only five nights earlier.
The smaller Boomers’ frontline made Jackson, and fellow bigs Mercedes Russell and Carly Ernst look silly on Saturday night, in particular import Naz Hillmon, who went to the free throw line 15 times.
On this night, though, they weren’t having it, Russell following her unstoppable teammate’s lead with 17 points and nine rebounds.
Jackson scored 10 points in each of the first three quarters and eight in the last to cap off her dominant display.
She had help from captain Bec Cole, who had seven of her 11 points in the first and then veteran point guard Leilani Mitchell picked up the slack after the break with all 10 of her points coming in the second half.
Jackson took Saturday’s loss personally, captain Bec Cole said.
“That is just simply GOAT status. What a massive game and not just scoring but on the boards and a great defensive presence,” Cole said.
“She’s been doing this for how long? She knows when she has to rise up and step up to the occasion.
“It’s a credit to the team we were looking for her and we were moving off the ball because we knew she was on fire.
“I think we were embarrassed by our last game and Lauren Jackson don’t do embarrassed.
“What a performance. if Lauren can have two more games like that. Thank you very much.”
The Boomers weren’t disgraced, but they were caught up in the GOAT’s tsunami, despite the best efforts of WNBL MVP Jordin Canada (18 points, seven assists, six rebounds) and Hillmon (17 points and eight rebounds), as did Keely Froling and Mon Conti (12 points each).
The Flyers now enjoy home court advantage — at Parkville — in the best-of-three grand final against the upstart Perth Lynx.
GOAT REFUSES TO SLAM CAREER DOOR WITH SEASON ON KNIFE’S EDGE
A sound body and back-to-back 20-point semi-final games have legendary Opal Lauren Jackson mulling another season in the WNBL.
While it’s possible the win-or-go-home decider against cross-town rival Melbourne on Wednesday night could be the GOAT’s last WNBL game, the Southside star hasn’t made a decision on retirement.
“No, the door’s not shut completely,” said Jackson, who will be 43 when the next WNBL season begins.
“After the injuries (Lisfranc, Achilles) I had last year, I didn’t think I’d be able to get back.
“So the fact my body’s held up and probably got better as the season’s gone on is crazy.
“I got back to this point and I feel like I’m playing better basketball than I had the past two years.
“I feel like I can get even better and more consistent because I’m training more and I’m able to do more on court.
“I’ve said from the start I need my children with me, they’re my first priority, but it’s six months away and I’ll play NBL1 and then we’ll see how it all plays out.”
THE TASK AT HAND
Jackson is hoping the humbling loss will spur her side’s strongest effort of the season – and the players will take some cues from Perth Lynx’s 108-102 win over Townsville in the semi-final on Sunday, which clinched a place in the grand final.
“You watch Perth play on Sunday and everything just clicked for them,” she said, ahead of the chance to win the right to face the Lynx in the grand final.
“They had the confidence, they had that swagger and I feel like we need to have that and we should have that.
“We haven’t had the perfect game of basketball yet this season. We’ve had moments that have been good but we haven’t been able to break open games and bury people.
“In my mind, I’m like ‘losing on Saturday, are we going to feel that, are we going to respond in a way that’s worthy of being in a grand final?
“I guess we’ll find out.”
In a big positive, following the game-one scheduling debacle where only 890 fans showed up, ticket sales for the decider have already well-eclipsed that figure, with Southside officials anticipating a crowd in excess of 2000.
DEJA VU?
Jackson could be forgiven for having a little deja vu on Wednesday night.
In 2014, when she was grand final MVP in the last of her five WNBL championships, the four-time Olympian led her Canberra Capitals to victory – on the same Parkville court, against the Boomers, then known as Bulleen.
Two free throws from the GOAT with four seconds left iced the 75-70 win over a Boomers side that had future Opals captain Jenna O’Hea and a teenage Liz Cambage.
Jackson was pivotal in finishing with 18 points and 13 rebounds but believes teammate Nat Hurst, who now coaches Adelaide Lightning, was more deserving of the MVP gong for her 21-point effort.
“I remember thinking I shouldn’t have got MVP, Nat Hurst should have got it,” Jackson said.
“She had a really solid game, played that leadership role, that point guard, perfectly.
“I remember getting it just thinking ‘I don’t deserve this’ and I told her later she should have got it.”
There’s also a synergy in gritty, talented veteran point guards because Sixth Woman of the Year Leilani Mitchell is the conductor for the Flyers.
“Being able to play with Leilani this year, especially in this back half when my timing and confidence started to come back, I’m playing with probably the smartest point guard in the league,” said Jackson, who is averaging 15.3 points and six rebounds in her past 11 games.
“(WNBL MVP) Jordin Canada is out-of-control awesome but, for me, Leilani has been perfect in getting my confidence back and helping me with my timing. She just knows what positions to get people into.
“Throughout my career, I attribute a lot of my success to the great point guards I’ve played with.”
FAMILY FIRST AND GIVING BACK
Southside has moved heaven and earth to allow Jackson to be with her two boys Harry and Lenny throughout the season and she’s forever indebted.
It’s an undertaking Jackson wants to repay with a championship.
“I said from the start I need my children with me,” she said. “It’s too hard emotionally on all of us and puts a lot of pressure on my parents and they’re getting older.
“I couldn’t have done it without the commitment of Southside and (owner) Gerry Ryan, who have done everything they can to help me keep my boys with me.
“I am really proud of the club and I want to bring home a championship for them because I feel really in debt to them, giving me this opportunity.”
***Southside Flyers v Melbourne Boomers semi-final
Game 3: Wednesday, 7pm AEDT, Melbourne Sports Centres, Parkville.
Series tied at 1-1.
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Originally published as WNBL finals: Lauren Jackson winds back clock to send Southside Flyers to grand final with win over Melbourne Boomers
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