NBL25: Delly’s revenge as United beat JackJumpers in opener

Matthew Dellavedova led Melbourne United to a season-opening win against the JackJumpers in Perth to kick off Hoopsfest, and gain a measure of revenge for last season’s championship series.

Melbourne United’s Matthew Dellavedova has not shied away from how much losing last year’s championship series to the Tasmania JackJumpers hurt.

Remember, he had the chance to clinch the title for his side, on his home crowd, with a long shot on the buzzer, but missed.

Dellavedova took the first massive step to make amends on Thursday night in the NBL’s season opener – a rematch of the grand final.

His 21 points led Melbourne United a season-opener 88-79 victory against the JackJumpers in Perth to kick off Hoopsfest.

He was especially devastating in the third term, when he dropped 12 points, at 100% shooting, to give United a 72-59 lead at the main break.

Matthew Dellavedova led Melbourne United to victory against the JackJumpers. Picture: Getty Images

NO TROUBLE WITH TRAVEL

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for the reigning champions. The travel burden looked like taking its toll during the third term, but the JackJumpers kicked again to push the game to final buzzer.

Scott Roth’s team played two games in the pre-season Blitz on the Gold Coast, then three more in the International Cup in Singapore.

They rushed to Perth to play in the opener.

They trailed by just two points at half-time, 45-43. Anthony Drmic led all scorers with at that stage and Jordon Crawford had 10.

They were struggling at the final change, trailing 72-59.

Milton Doyle managed to get to within six points with three minutes left on the clock.

Late points from Chris Goulding and Jack White sealed the result.

Doyle led Tasmania’s scoring with 23 points.

Chris Goulding puts up a shot for Melbourne United. Picture: Getty Images

NOT THIS TIME

Drmic finished with those 14 points.

Crawford didn’t improve on his 10, with United’s Shea Ili and Ian Clark sharing the defensive duties.

The Tassie import was heroic in the title decider last season, dropping 32 points in game 5.

It was one of only four five games he dropped more than 25 points and he’d averaged 12 points over previous four champions series games.

With Jack McVeigh now at the Houston Rockets and Sean Macdonald (ankle) and import Craig Sword (concussion) missing through injury, the JackJumpers needed someone else to step up.

Anthony Drmic got the JackJumpers off to a good start. Picture: Getty Images

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It was more than six minutes into the second term before Tasmania dropped its first free-throw point.

Anthony Drmic hit both attempts after being fouled by Chris Goulding.

To be fair, Jordon Crawford had the only other bonus chance for the JackJumpers at that stage, his missed it, midway through the first term.

Drmic’s success took the scores to 39-34, in favour of United, whose score included 12 points from the free-throw line.

Tasmania was in early foul trouble. It had 12 fouls to United’s six.

By half-time, Reuben Te Rangi already had three, with Will Magnay, Majok Deng and Clint Steindl all sitting on two.

Returning champion reveals United’s ‘super power’ for NBL25

by Jessica Robinson

White, 27, rejoins a core group led by long time server Chris Goulding (who is entering his 10th season with United) for the first time since 2021, as United plan for redemption after their NBL finals series loss last season.

“It’s going to be huge for us, chemistry is going to be our super power,” White told Code Sports.

“Everyone who is playing for this team has played here before and understands the system and how we want to play, understands each other, so we’ve just been fine tuning a bunch of things as we head into the season.”

Jack White is happy to be returning to his home court after two years in the NBA. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

“We have a great culture, a great group, guys have those existing relationships and everyone’s excited to come into work.”

The star forward returns to his home court with his NBA dream achieved, a championship ring in hand - part of the Denver Nuggets title - and also a new-found maturity and leadership to his game.

“I think I’m a little more polished and confident and building on from different experiences makes me ready to deal with different things,” White said.

“The places it’s (basketball) taken me around the world, the people I’ve been able to meet, it’s taught me how to develop not only as a player but as a person and how to work in teams and communicate.”

And for White, coming back to the Australian league means stripping back the noise and purely playing the game he loves with his mates.

“It’s (NBL) like a super close knit locker room. You rely on each other a lot more, you have each other’s back and I feel it’s a lot more genuine,” White said of the NBL in comparison to the NBA.

“There’s less distractions over here when building up together.”

An NBL champion already, White was sidelined with an achilles injury when his team achieved the ultimate success in 2021, and says missing out is his extra motivation to be holding up the trophy when the final buzzer of the season sounds.

“It doesn’t sit right with me,” White shared.

“I want to be on the floor when we win and I think we’ve got the group to do that this year.”

“Last year I was watching from afar and felt that pain too, but that’s going to fuel us and motivate us to be better.

“I’m hoping to be a big piece of it.”

Jack White back in action, you love to see it.

📺 Live on Kayo | @5jackwhitepic.twitter.com/AT7B7YWKVp

— Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) September 7, 2024

“We have a great deal of versatility out on the floor, the guys are really easy to play with so we’ll be able to put out a range of line-ups that’ll help us tackle our opponents in the best way possible.”

After “living out of a suitcase” while playing across Denver, Oklahoma, LA and Memphis over two years, the Traralgon-born White is happy to be back on home soil for the next part of his career.

“I’ve been all over the place over the past couple of years so I’m excited to be back, be around friends and family, be a part of an organisation I’m really familiar with, with a lot of teammates who are friends too.”

United take on the JackJumpers in a finals series rematch to launch the NBL25 season tonight in Perth.

Originally published as NBL25: Delly’s revenge as United beat JackJumpers in opener