Lee to start Game 1 if fit

The Tasmania JackJumpers are still yet to confirm if Marcus Lee will play in Friday night’s Playoff game against Perth, but assistant coach Mark Radford says should Lee take to the floor, he’ll likely start.

Lee suffered a shoulder injury 22 seconds into Tasmania’s Seeding Qualifier win over Illawarra, and emerged from the changerooms sporting a sling. Scott Roth played down the seriousness of the injury post-game, but Radford has since labelled it as “pretty severe”.

Radford says Lee starting would be to keep the status quo of what has made the JackJumpers a successful team so far this season.

“If Marcus is fine to play, I think he’ll start,” Radford said.

“I think Scott stated and ‘Mags’ (Will Magnay) stated that if everybody’s healthy they’ll just play their normal role.

“Marcus has played a great role and been a great combination with Mags, I think everyone’s seen that front and centre and we’ve traditionally had good starts. If everyone’s good, we don’t want to change that.

“I think he practiced pretty well yesterday, at the end he was getting some treatment and he’s probably going to have to get some treatment for a little while because it was a pretty severe injury.”

Radford also weighed in on the discussion surrounding the discrepancy in foul calls between Perth star Bryce Cotton, and his Tasmania counterpart Milton Doyle.

Roth appeared on SEN on Wednesday and said his side would need to be more disciplined against Cotton, and that the Wildcats star gets “incidental” fouls, while Rillie stated in a press conference on Thursday that “numbers can be manipulated”.

Radford says he’s only interested in Doyle’s game.

“We’ve had conversations with Milt’s play and had conversations with the referees’ departments about how Milt can draw more fouls. In the end that’s what we’re interested in, what Milton Doyle can do and how he’s best – not protected – respected at the same level,” Radford said.

“He’s proven that in this short two-year period that he’s one of the premier players in the league. In terms of Bryce, I think everyone’s got to learn to defend him a little bit better and a little bit smarter.

“He’s a high-volume player like Milt and Milt’s got to stay aggressive at the rim, I think that’s where he’ll get his fouls and if we can put Perth in that position then Milt could get to the line a little bit more often. “

Tasmania’s Playoff clash against Perth tips off on Friday night at 9:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 Play.