WNBL Grand Final: Chris Lucas says temperament key if Boomers to bounce back against Lynx in decider

Some hot shooting from Perth Lynx has left Melbourne Boomers on the brink, but one of the WNBL’s most successful coaches believes all is not lost for the minor premiers.

The only coach in WNBL history who has been in both Melbourne and Perth’s shoes this week believes mood is a key to the championship.

Perth took a giant step towards their first WNBL title 30 years, as a three-point barrage set up a 98-71 away win over minor premiers Melbourne Boomers in game one of the grand final series at the weekend.

But the battle will come down to temperament.

Jackie Young scored 21 points in game one of the WNBL decider.

Adelaide Lightning’s Chris Lucas is the only coach to have won a best-of-three series in two games (Townsville Fire 2015-16) and rebounded from an opening loss to win and force a decider (Adelaide 2018-19).

Perth Lynx won the opening game of the Grand Final series, 98-71, at Melbourne Boomers home court on Saturday night and now have the chance to break a 30-year drought and win the title in front of their home crowd on Wednesday.

If the Boomers can respond they will send the series to Game 3 back in Melbourne on Saturday.

“Mood is infectious. Melbourne know they didn’t shoot particularly well early and they can have confidence in that. Perth is a high scoring team so you actually need to pull them back to 75, I think,” Lucas said.

“But the challenge is Perth will be feeling pretty good about themselves. They’ll feel pretty confident about what they’ve done, they know what they need to do.

“They’re going to be exceptionally tough but Melbourne need to have confidence in what they’ve done to get to this point.”

The Boomers will need the likes of Tiffany Mitchell to step up in game two

Long time between drinks for Perth

Perth has just one championship to its name and the MVP from that 1992 title wants another team to share history with.

In a line-up coached by 10-time WNBL champion Tom Maher and featuring legends Robyn Maher and Michele Timms, Tanya Fisher stood up and top scored as Perth defeated Dandenong, 58-54.

“We had a very talented team. I got my points on the board early by taking advantage of the fact that they had to try and shut down five of us all the time, so one of us was always going to slip the gate,” she said.

“When Tom took over, if you survived pre-season that year, you deserved to win a Grand Final because it was torrid. It was the first time we’d been subjected to that level of testing and physical scrutiny.”

Fisher won a silver engraved peanut tray for her championship efforts. These days the Grand Final MVP takes home the Rachael Sporn Medal.

Anneli Maley has earned rich praise from Kristi Harrower.

High-profile praise for MVP

Four-time Olympic medallist Kristi Harrower has praised the work ethic of Anneli Maley.

Maley last week claimed the WNBL MVP, becoming the second Bendigo player to do so following in Harrower’s footsteps (2009-10).

“The thing that makes her head above everyone else is her work ethic, she plays at more than 100 per cent on every play, she goes after it and that makes her so good. Her confidence has built and she’s thriving,” Harrower said.

Maley, who averaged 19 points and 15 rebounds, recorded a double-double in all but one game and should be in the frame for September’s World Cup in Sydney according to Harrower.

“Maley’s the future and that’s what you need to start thinking of, I’d put her in for the future,” she said.

“If you want someone to go out there and knuckle someone down, or go and get rebounds, that’s her.”

Originally published as WNBL Grand Final: Chris Lucas says temperament key if Boomers to bounce back against Lynx in decider