NBL Grand Final: An in-depth look of how the 2023-24 championship series was won and lost
It will go down in history as arguably the greatest NBL Grand Final series ever. MICHAEL RANDALL and MATT LOGUE on how an expansion team slayed an NBL giant.
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It was the fairytale dream that should have been impossible, was a shot away from being a certainty and ultimately ended in heartbreak — for an NBL powerhouse.
The expansion team from Tasmania up against the might of Melbourne United for the NBL title.
Ford v Ferrari, if you like.
In one of the greatest championship series in NBL history, the ‘little island’ that could, eventually did, in just its third season of existence.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be for United.
Reloaded after missing the NBL playoffs for the first time in Dean Vickerman’s reign, the Ferrari, sporting a horde of the game’s elite, dominated the regular season and made it all the way to the last shot on their home court.
But, unfortunately, the basketball gods have to be cruel to be kind.
Michael Randall and Matt Logue look at how the JackJumpers defied the odds to delight an entire state — and break United.
The first tiny sign the NBL’s fairytale expansion team might be headed for NBL grand final oblivion at the hands of all-conquering Melbourne United came just 41 seconds into the series.
JackJumpers’ big man Will Magnay stepped up to the charity stripe and gave away free burgers, missing both free throws, one an airball.
That foreshadowed a 23-point game one hammering and a 1-0 series deficit against a stacked United squad hellbent on revenge against the bogey team that had knocked it out of the semi finals two seasons ago.
Remarkably, it was the first time the JackJumpers had lost by more than eight points in the season.
Had the wildly talented United, equipped with a pair of NBA champions and multiple NBL title winners, finally found that extra gear everyone thought they had, leaving the less experienced, underdog JackJumpers overawed?
Or were the Jackies just cooked from a taxing semi-final tour of duty that involved two journeys from Tassie to Perth and back?
It seemed the former was true when the series appeared just about dead as United leapt out to a 15-point lead, midway through the third quarter of game two.
But then, somehow, some way, the never-say-die JackJumpers — and the NBL24 grand final series — came to life.
The Jackies — as they have done all season — refused to surrender, roaring back into that contest and eking out an 82-77 win to square the series at 1-1.
Post-game, poor refereeing that led to questionable calls on both sides, punctuated by a late unsportsmanlike foul on Dellavedova, became the story — and the first real ignition in the series.
The early fireworks had already exploded with a seemingly innocuous “little island” jibe from United coach Dean Vickerman about Tassie’s ‘defend the island’ mantra that irked the rabid Ant Army.
The ire over officiating overshadowed the JackJumpers’ monster game two comeback — and United’s epic choke.
With a quick turnaround back in Melbourne, United — which hadn’t lost back-to-back games in a remarkable 475 days — skipped out to an 11-point advantage with two minutes to go in the first quarter and never trailed — until the 3.16 mark of the game.
To that point, the series had been a flop-a-thon with serial offenders on both teams — Chris Goulding, Dellavedova and Shea Ili for United and Jack McVeigh, Will Magnay and Anthony Drmic for the JackJumpers — exaggerating contact in a bid to draw fouls.
Half way through game three, the under fire refs finally decided to take a stand, pinging poor Magnay, who battled foul trouble that limited his effectiveness all series, for taking a dive in the lane as Dellavedova burrowed into his chest.
Some argued Delly’s contact was enough, but Magnay has 15cm and 20kg on the United guard — the big fella milked it.
A twist of fate — the devastating injury to Tasmania big man Marcus Lee in the third quarter — ended up working to the Jackies’ advantage when the yet-to-be-sighted Majok Deng played the quarter of his life, filling in as a small-ball five with a white-hot 15 points in the fourth.
Down the stretch, the heavyweights landed big shot after big shot with seven lead changes in the last three minutes.
Still, United should have had it in the bag, up two with eight seconds left, Dellavedova perched on the sideline, ball in hand.
Just look after the rock, Delly.
His inbound, though, went awry, and the rest, as they say, is history — this one a special piece, Jack McVeigh with the near half-court gamewinner that reverberated all over the basketball world.
And so, to Tassie, the back-to-back unbeaten record stopped at 475 days, United now facing the championship oblivion most thought would be the JackJumpers’ fate.
Down 2-1, United coach Dean Vickerman promised a passionate response and both teams foreshadowed a dogfight.
That’s exactly what they delivered for three quarters, which featured, of course, another controversial referee moment when Scott Roth challenged an Anthony Drmic foul. Replays showed a wet lettuce leaf would have done more damage to United’s NBA champion import Ian Clark, but it wasn’t enough for the review bunker to reverse the call.
The decision had former Brisbane Bullet Harry Froling branding it “one of the worst calls in NBL history”.
“If Tassie lose a close game jeeeezuuuuusssss.”
The pressure turned up to 10 in the last but, instead of tightening up, it opened the door to basketball nirvana as the stars came out to play in a stunning final frame befitting of the stakes.
Bang. Matthew Dellavedova.
Bang. Milton Doyle.
Bang. Chris Goulding.
Bang. Jack McVeigh.
MVP. MVP. MVP. âï¸@jackjumpers star Jack McVeigh accepts the NBL24 Larry Sengstock Trophy 🆠pic.twitter.com/fLGkc7oIn3
— NBL (@NBL) March 31, 2024
Punch and counterpunch, lead change after lead change.
United, 16.6 seconds away from that dreaded oblivion. Tassie, the dreamers, up 86-85.
Delly, booed relentlessly by the Ant Army throughout the game, had the perfect answer, putting United ahead for good.
JackJumper Sean Macdonald then produced his own forgettable Delly moment. The league’s Most Improved Player’s inbound pass with 7.2 left intercepted by Jo Lual-Acuil Jr — a huge moment for the dominant centre who had gone missing in the series after a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double in game one.
He found Ian Clark, who was fouled and drained one of two.
McVeigh, who’d killed United with 28 points, then had a chance to repeat his game-three heroics but his deep try as time expired bounced out — Froling’s aforementioned close game prophecy coming true in setting up a daunting decider back in Melbourne on Easter Sunday.
Had the Jackies played their decider?
Was the title now Melbourne’s to lose?
United had some demons to fight — they’d only beaten the JackJumpers twice in seven tries on their home deck, including two of their four beats at JCA this season — in a weird quirk that would have given Tassie an air of confidence, despite the magnitude of the task.
Little-used mid-season signing Tom Vodanovich was the only player on either team who guaranteed himself a ring when the Kiwi was given the blessing of the JackJumpers to skip game five for his wedding back in NZ.
United looked ready for the confetti with a dominant 16-6 start, part of a near-perfect offensive effort that produced 31 points — the equal highest total of any quarter in the series.
But they forgot about the little guy.
The JackJumpers’ offence looked all sorts of ugly. They needed something from anyone. Just a little spark.
They got a big bang.
The smallest man in the NBL delivered an incredible 19-point first quarter, single-handedly keeping the Jackies’ title dream alive.
Crawford’s 168cm had been exploited by United’s bulls all series, making him difficult for Roth to deploy as he’d done in the regular season, but that might have helped the American fly under United’s radar as he turned JCA into his own personal playground.
The unparalleled heroics wore on United and they didn’t have the same energy in the second, as McVeigh joined the party with six quick points before another Crawford three — his fifth in as many tries — gave Tassie its first lead at 43-42.
“We defended the island for you … we’re coming home with the trophy.â€@jackjumpers' coach Scott Roth after winning the NBL24 championship 🆠pic.twitter.com/PL4j0qTloE
— NBL (@NBL) March 31, 2024
His 27 first-half points were already the eighth-most in an entire grand final game in the 40-minute era and ensured the contest headed into the long break all square.
It wouldn’t quite be fair to say the outburst was out of the blue — Crawford has been an explosive scorer across a career that has included stops in the US and Europe. Certainly, though, in the context of a series where he had averaged just 12 points per game — five less than his regular season production — it likely wouldn’t have been on many game five bingo cards.
Even less likely was the fact Crawford didn’t take his first shot of the second half until there were two minutes left in the third quarter. Yet the plucky JackJumpers refused to surrender.
Four points in it. United 63-59, one quarter of basketball to go in a 2023-24 NBL season that well and trully went the distance.
United got it out to nine early — Roth called time to stem the flow.
As they’ve done all series, Tassie hit back with a vengeance. A 10-1 run to tie it at 71.
Six minutes to go.
The smattering of JackJumpers’ fans, perhaps fewer in number than game three, but no less vocal, launched into their famous ‘March’ chant in a bid to lift their boys.
The game and the series deserved overtime.
And it almost had it.
But Delly couldn’t conjure the McVeigh miracle magic on a half-court prayer and Tassie were champions, 83-81, in a game every bit fitting of a series that will live long in the memory of basketball fans.
Any early fears of grand-final oblivion were now a distant memory.
Tasmania cemented itself as one of the NBL’s greatest stories, the third-year expansion club leaving mighty United to pick up the pieces of an agonising failure.
Build the statue of Scott Roth, the grand final MVP Jack McVeigh (and Jordon Crawford and Majok Deng and...) now.
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