NBL 2024 Grand Final: Latest news for the Melbourne United vs. Tasmania JackJumpers series, refereeing controversy
Melbourne United stomped the Ants in the NBL grand final opener. It was a lot closer in game two with the Tasmania JackJumpers prevailing 82-77 in Hobart, on Friday night, but not without some final seconds controversy.
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The NBL conspiracy theorists are adamant Melbourne United has been the beneficiary of a generous whistle throughout this year’s playoffs.
But, during Friday night’s tight NBL grand final loss to Tasmania, it was the minor premiers who might have felt they were on the wrong side of the referees as the JackJumpers squared the series at 1-1.
Down one with 8 seconds left, United’s Matthew Dellavedova cluttered into Tassie’s Jack McVeigh as the latter attempted to pass the ball following an offensive rebound.
Dellavedova was whistled for a foul, which was then referred to the league’s review centre and subsequently upgraded to an unsportsmanlike, sparking controversy. Two shots and possession was a crushing blow in a one-point game.
The prevailing opinion of the commentary team – NBL legends Andrew Gaze and Derek Rucker – and fans, former players and coaches on social media was that the decision was harsh.
McVeigh calmly drained both free throws but, on the inbound, Dellavedova, in an effort to atone, ripped the ball out of an under-siege Sean Macdonald’s hands as reigning three-time referee of the year Vaughan Mayberry blew the whistle to signal a jump ball – the possession arrow with Tassie.
Did he go early? The whistle appeared to sound after the ball was out of Macdonald’s hands.
United coach Dean Vickerman was disappointed with the decision to upgrade the foul on Dellavedova.
“You feel like that, In some ways, decides the game, so has to be pretty severe,” Vickerman said.
“So we’ll have a look at it and, nothing we can do about it right now, but, yeah, disappointing that it was called.”
“So we’ll have a look at it and, nothing we can do about it right now, but, yeah, disappointing that it was called.”
Forget the United conspiracy theories, the cold, hard reality, right now, is the development of referees hasn’t kept up with improvement of play in the NBL.
Some are still part-time and others, in various instances throughout the season, have struggled with decision-making, especially in pressure situations.
And that’s ok – it’s a job, albeit a high stress, high scrutiny one that often involves being screamed at and argued with by coaches and players and, sadly, abused by fans.
In any job, we have good and bad days and good and bad moments.
On the whole, game two felt well officiated. The crew, led by Mayberry, attempted to strike a balance between physicality and the whistle that made for an enthralling dogfight.
Referees are human. They make mistakes. Just as players miss shots and turn the ball over.
Mayberry would likely look back on a mistake with 0.6 seconds left in the half when United big man Jo Lual-Acuil Jr clearly fouled Will Magnay.
Mayberry was heard to say “his arm is the ball, his arm is the ball”.
A cut away on the broadcast showed Scott Roth uttering expletives – and replays showed the Tassie coach had cause to be aggrieved.
The league’s refereeing is never going to be perfect – no league’s is – but it can be better.
NBL powerbrokers are acutely aware of the issues the sport has with officials – and what they are forced to deal with.
Put simply, the referees have to get better – for myriad reasons, not least the obvious integrity of the game but also watchability and player and fan satisfaction.
It isn’t going to be fixed by game three, so let’s remove the tinfoil hats and cross our fingers for a better future.
The shame of it all is talk of referees takes away from the blood and guts performance of a JackJumpers squad that clawed its way out of a 15-point hole in the third quarter to eke out an 82-77 win and inject new life into the series.
What about Roth’s decision to park pint-sized guard Jordon Crawford – whose diminutive stature is sadly making him a defensive liability against United’s back-court bulls – for the bigger Sean Macdonald? He helped the Jackies hold United to just 14 points in the fourth quarter and perhaps sent a little message to the Most Improved doubters.
Then there’s Jack McVeigh, who walked into halftime with almost as many embarrassing flops (one) as points (two) and had been strangled by Luke Travers early in the series.
McVeigh lifted after the long break, pouring in 14 of his team-high 16 including a number of his trademark herky jerky finishes that are so deliberate – and so hard to guard.
Then there’s the silent assassin Milton Doyle. It felt like the gun American was having a quiet one but, after the JackJumpers were pummelled in the rebound count in game one, Doyle clearly made it his personal mission to reverse that, ripping down 10 boards to go with his 13 points.
United, while likely frustrated, won’t blame the refs, either.
Up 15 with 7.30 to go in the third, the best team in the league should have put the Jackies away and sailed home one win away from the title.
Instead, they went cold, managing just 22 points for the rest of the game as they struggled to find rhythm with Lual-Acuil Jr, Shea Ili and Ian Clark in foul trouble.
“We probably slowed down a bit and they were able to score at a better clip,” Goulding said.
“Then we’re taking it out the net, running set plays and just probably didn’t have the pop and intensity to it, especially when there’s some foul trouble lurking around you’ve got to teeter that line and we probably didn’t do it well enough.”
When they got to the line they didn’t shoot it well enough, either, just 66 per cent as seven freebies went begging. Last in the league in free throw accuracy, It’s been a concern all season.
So where does that leave the series ahead of Sunday’s short turnaround?
Well, United’s dreams of a sweep and celebrating the title at home this weekend have been dashed and it means they’ll have to make another trip to the Tassie cauldron.
But, just as the JackJumpers did after game one, Vickerman and Co will adjust – and know their best is capable of overwhelming the Ants.
Goulding’s already champing at the bit to re-establish United’s dominance.
“You don’t want to wait around, I’d play tomorrow if that’s when it was, just get it going,” Goulding said.
“You can’t dwell too much, the positive is we know that that basketball that got us the 15-point lead is in us. We showed it the other night in Melbourne, we showed it again tonight,” he said.
“Our mindset has been ‘how can we get better?’ – and you do that by looking at your mistakes and learning from them and trying to bring out more of that basketball that got us that big lead.”
NBL Grand Final: Melbourne United v Tasmania JackJumpers
Best-of-five series tied at 1-1
Game 3: Sunday, March 24, 5.30pm AEDT, John Cain Arena, Watch on Kayo Sports and ESPN
‘Been there, done that’
– Michael Randall
Ian Clark knows exactly what to expect when Melbourne United takes its 1-0 NBL grand final series lead into Tassie’s hostile home cauldron after they sent the JackJumpers back to the island with their tails between their legs.
He’s been there, done that in front of massive crowds in the NBA finals and, two years ago with Sydney.
The slick shooting guard helped the Kings eke out a 90-86 win in the face of the raucous Ant Army on their way to a 3-0 series sweep grand final series sweep.
And Clark, along with the likes of Chris Goulding, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and Matthew Dellavedova — who experienced the MyState Bank Arena finals atmosphere when the JackJumpers beat United in that season’s semis — will ensure their teammates were prepared for Friday night’s game two clash.
“It’s loud, I had my fair share of it a couple years ago when I was in Sydney and I’m expecting it to be the same,” Clark said after United took the grand final ascendancy with a 104-81 win in Sunday’s series opener.
“Some of these other guys haven’t been in that environment and are going into it for the first time, so it’s just making sure that they’re ready for it.
” We’ve got some guys who have experience with it and we go down there with a 0-0 mindset, knowing that they’re going to come out hard and knowing we’ve got to make sure we hit the first punch.”
Tasmanian-born teammate Goulding was relishing the challenge of a grand final dogfight in front of the JackJumpers’ ‘Sixth Man’.
“It’s what you want, right? Expansion team, great fans, they sell out the arena, it’s much better than having no fans in the arena and being quiet, we’ve experienced that before through Covid,” Goulding said.
“So, embrace the challenge, go down there and be better again.”
A 23-point drubbing in the biggest game of the season has the potential to leave scars, but Clark scoffed at any suggestion the result gave United a psychological advantage over the battle-hardened but fatigued Jackies, who went into John Cain Arena off a pair of trips to Perth in the semis.
“With this team? Not really,” he said.
“We circle back to the beginning of the season (October 8) when they came in, we were up big (13) and they came back and beat us (80-75) so I think we’re just staying level-headed.
“It’s good to get a win, especially at home, but we know it means nothing.”
United poured in 104 points — Sixth Man of the Year Clark devastating with 18 off the bench — but the win was built on a rampant defensive effort that limited JackJumpers’ scoring trio Milton Doyle, Jordan Crawford and Jack McVeigh, who had a particularly tough time dealing with Luke Travers.
With five days to rest up and re-tool, the former Golden State Warrior is expecting Tasmania coach Scott Roth to make adjustments for game two.
“We know how dangerous those guys are, those two guards and McVeigh,” he said.
“We’ll be doing our best job to limit their touches and try to make it hard for them again.
“LT did a great job being up and attached to McVeigh.
“They will double down on things that they do well and obviously try to get those guys more touches and make sure they’re a little bit more physical with us.
“We’ve just got to make it tough on them for 40 minutes.“
Can United’s championship edge overcome Ants’ rare dominance?
– Michael Randall
Battle-hardened Melbourne United’s experience in the pressure cooker situations of finals basketball looms as a key factor in this year’s NBL grand final.
United is stacked with championship pedigree, sharing a combined 16 NBL titles — and two in the NBA — while just three JackJumpers have tasted ultimate success in the Aussie league.
United mentor Dean Vickerman, the reigning Coach of the Year, owns seven titles — three as head coach and four as an assistant — Chris Goulding has won the NBL championship three times, Shea Ili twice, and Both Matthew Dellavedova and Ian Clark each have NBA rings.
It’s that rich history of success star big man Jo Lual-Acuil Jr says the minor premiers have leant on all season and it holds them in good stead ahead of Sunday’s grand final opener at John Cain Arena.
“I think we have a good mix of age and experience and when things don’t go right or we have any adversity, we have a calmness to us that, all year, we’ve been very solution based,” Lual-Acuil Jr said.
“Delly’s huge, we lean on his experience. We also have Shili, we have CG, LT (Luke Travers) has been in some grand finals, I’ve been in some grand finals, Newls (Brad Newley) as well, has been huge for us … it’s a collective effort (and) we have a wealth of experience.”
Both Dellavedova and Goulding own Olympic bronze medals, adding to a daunting task for the plucky JackJumpers, who are the form team of the league. But only coach Scott Roth — as an assistant — Clint Steindl (two) and Tom Vodanovic own an NBL ring.
But the Ants enter the series with a remarkable advantage over United, leading 8-4 all-time and sporting a 5-1 record at the John Cain Arena fortress, where Melbourne has won nine straight.
Memories of Tassie’s greatest triumph — the NBL22 game three semi final win over United that booked their place in a grand final, ultimately won by the Sydney Kings — are fresh every time the Jackies walk down the race at JCA.
Jack McVeigh was a United killer in that series with 15, 15 then 16 points in the decider and the gun forward has levelled up considerably, pouring in 23 points per game in his four finals appearances this season.
The 27-year-old knows United’s experience presents a mammoth task for the JackJumpers, who have captured the imagination of the Australian basketball world with a second grand final appearance in their three years of existence.“ They’ve been the best team all season but we’re feeling good,” McVeigh said.
“They’ve got vets, they’re being led by an Australian NBA great (Dellavedova) so it’s going to be a fun battle but we definitely feel like as long as we focus on us, stick to what we do, we’ve got as good a chance as anyone of bringing this thing home.”
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