Roth praises “incredible effort”

Scott Roth has paid tribute to Tasmania’s resilience, as the JackJumpers prepare to play in the Grand Final series in their inaugural NBL campaign.

The NBL’s Coach of the Year pointed to his team’s unwavering commitment, even after it fell to a two-win, six-loss record after eight games.

“Our guys were gritty, tough, never-give up … just an incredible effort for our group,” Roth said after Monday night’s three-point win over Melbourne United. 

“To defend the island again and impact a state like these guys have done is just a fantastic thing for our group and the state.

“We just the stuck the course and it’s a credit to these guys to buy in and I’m so appreciative of this group … they gave me the privilege to coach them and trust me with their careers this year.”

Tasmania won the final two games of the semi-final series, having fallen to a disappointing loss at John Cain Arena just five days ago. 

“We just stayed true to ourselves,” Roth said when asked how his team conquered United. 

“It just came down to us defending and doing what we’ve hung our hat on.

“I’ve said all along ‘defence will travel … it will always give you a chance on the road in the fourth quarter if you are doing the right things’.

“It was my mindset from day one when I started putting this team together to be in the top four defensively. I thought it would be good enough to get to today actually.”

Roth praised an outstanding team effort in the win, but it was hard to top the performance of Josh Adams, who scored 30 points, including 21 in the second half alone. 

“I was hoping in the last game or two that he (Adams) was going to break out at some point,” Roth said. 

“He wasn’t quite there and he had some frustrations going on here and there.

“He just come out on fire in the second half and we continued to go to him. He got level-headed again and got back into what we needed to be doing, and made big play after big play and swung the tide towards us. 

“He had an unbelievable second half for us.”

Next up, the JackJumpers take on a red-hot Sydney Kings team, with the first of a best-of-five Hungry Jack’s NBL Grand Final series set for Friday night at Qudos Bank Arena.

“We’re just blessed to be in this position and humbled by it,” Roth added.