Island. Defended.
Those were Scott Roth's closing words on the podium, as his Tasmania JackJumpers were crowned the 2024 NBL Champions. In his team's three-year existence, 'Defend The Island' had been their tagline, and the win over Melbourne United in a do-or-die Game 5 was a microcosm of everything we've learned about the JackJumpers over that period of time.
They're a team that doesn't throw in the towel. They succeed by committee. The underdog -- no matter how small -- comes up big. And, for the most part, they're going to work harder than you.
Down 10 points early in the game, the JackJumpers fought back. They had a nine-point deficit with under eight minutes to play, and weren't fazed. And, like seemingly every game in the Championship Series, despite trailing for most of it, the JackJumpers came up big when it mattered; they defeated United 83-81 in Melbourne's John Cain Arena to win the franchise's first NBL title.
'Resilience'
That was a word used a lot over the course of the night, and the JackJumpers' season. The team's captain, Clint Steindl, used it to end his speech on the podium, and it sums up a lot of how the JackJumpers got over the line.
"Just a gritty performance from these guys," Roth told ESPN after the game, with the court covered in green and yellow confetti. "They could've dropped their head with that last game. Just resilient... I'm just super proud of the group."
It became a trend, especially in this Championship Series. No matter what lead you have against this team, it's not safe. United's lead got to double digits in Game 5, and a Shea Ili layup with 8:00 on the clock gave the home team a nine-point lead, and it looked like they might begin to run away with it.
Two minutes later, the scores were tied.
"It was proven the entire season that you just weren't gonna be able to put us away," Roth said. "They got up x amount of points, and we reel them back in. We just kept fighting, and our guys kept doing their jobs and believing."
It's why these JackJumpers went through the entire regular season without losing a game by double digits. Whenever there was a big shot, or an important play, or a crucial stop to be made, the JackJumpers, more often than not, seemed to find a way.
"We just show up every single day," Jack McVeigh -- the Larry Sengstock Medalist for Championship Series MVP, told ESPN. "Every day, all season long, we pound the rock, we get after it, and that puts us in a place where: Game 5, down in the fourth quarter, we're still just pounding away."
That resilience also came in the form of playing through immense pain. Both teams were beaten up going into the game, but things got worse when Magnay went down early in the first quarter. There was an ongoing foot issue, and a new hamstring tweak; the big-man in significant distress for the majority of the game.
"It was a lot," Magnay told ESPN, of the pain he was feeling. "But, it was more just tightness. If I pushed off it too hard, it was really gonna go. I just tried to black out and not think about what was going on.
Magnay finished the game with 11 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks, coming up especially big down the stretch on both ends of the floor.
"Just work, man," Magnay said. "We put in so much, and you give so much to everyone. Everyone has so much faith in you; it's almost a disservice to not give everything you have back. I knew I could keep going. At what capacity? I knew I could push myself and Rothy just backed me in to make some plays, and I was able to hobble around and do some stuff late."
'He had faith in me': Crawford comes up big
One of the most unique things about this JackJumpers team is that 'the guy' on any given night is someone different.
They're never reliant on just one person. Over the series, we saw big moments from McVeigh, Milton Doyle, Will Magnay, Sean Macdonald, Majok Deng, the list can go on. In Game 5, it was Jordon Crawford -- the JackJumpers' 5'6 import -- who dropped 32 points, including 27 in the first half alone, in a performance for the ages.
"Just staying aggressive," Crawford told ESPN. "My teammates telling me [to] keep at it. I put it in God's hands and let everything else take care of itself. I put the work in my whole life. Water finds its even eventually."
It was Crawford in the first half, dancing his way to tough jumper after tough jumper, keeping his team in the contest, before the rest of the cavalry came to the party down the stretch.
"Jordon had an amazing first half to keep the scoreboard ticking over, and then Milton got involved," Roth said.
"Magnay hurt his foot in the first minute of the game, and fought through it. Everyone chipped in: Seany Mac was incredible. I thought it was just a great group effort, and really resilient."
Crawford is someone who had his struggles to start the postseason, but really found his groove in this series at the start of Game 2. He played a crucial role in the JackJumpers staying close throughout Game 5, with Roth showing trust in the smaller point guard when others may have given up.
"He's the head of the snake," Crawford said of his head coach. "Just the fact that he had faith in me, brought me on board when nobody else [did]. [They would say] I'm too small, [but] he's the one that wants the underdog. He feels the same way. Just the support he had for me, and leading the way and showing what the grit and grind [is], doing the little things to win."
Jack McVeigh: MVP
Minutes after sealing the title, and being announced as the Championship Series' Most Valuable Player, McVeigh was reflective.
"That was the pinnacle of basketball in Australia," he told ESPN. "Competing at the top, five epic games, coming down the last shot, game winners, high-flying dunks; I'm just grateful to be out there."
But, McVeigh wasn't just out there. He also wasn't only one of the elite players on the floor. When it was all said and done, McVeigh was the most valuable of them all; his spectacular game-winner in Game 3 to live in NBL lore, in a series he largely excelled in.
His teammates -- and the traveling Tasmanian fans -- let out a roar as he was named the winner of the Larry Sengstock Trophy, beating out the rest of the field emphatically.
"That's crazy," McVeigh said of winning the honour.
"I think that's crazier to me than winning it... it's something I've worked toward. It's definitely a goal I had in place. Sometimes you don't expect them really to happen, and here you are standing as Finals MVP."
When McVeigh first arrived in Tasmania ahead of their maiden NBL season, he was just an idea of a player. The skillset was there. So was the work ethic. Would the physical limitations hold him back? Maybe. He wouldn't let it, though.
"He does the work, so it's no surprise to all of us," Magnay said of McVeigh.
"Slow, unathletic, all of this, but he gets to his spot, has his crafty moves. He's fun to watch. I just sit low and watch him operate on the block. It's easy for me. He's a hell of a player, hell of a man, and I'm happy to be a teammate with him."
McVeigh finished Game 5 with 14 points and eight rebounds, improving as each day passed in the series, and showing, over his short time with the JackJumpers, how he's transformed into not just one of the best locals in the league; but, one of the best players competing in Australia today.
"It's unbelievable," McVeigh said. "They say it takes a village to raise a child; I guess it took a whole island to make my dreams come true."
Island: Defended
In this series, you always know when Roth is emerging from the tunnel onto the floor to do a pregame interview, because a corner of John Cain Arena erupts. That's the ant army, the traveling JackJumpers fans who, on a regular basis, invade opposing stadiums to support their team.
"We come out of the locker room, and you hear them more than all the people in here," Crawford said of the traveling fans.
Since their inception -- and thanks to the direction of Roth -- the JackJumpers have full-throatedly and whole-heartedly embraced the entire state of Tasmania, and it's been reciprocal.
There's perhaps no other team in Australian sport that not only represents its people and culture as distinctly as the JackJumpers do, but also make those fans feel as though they're a part of the franchise. It's what gives Magnay, for example, the desire to play on one leg; knowing he's representing an immensely proud community.
"I think Tasmania is a place everyone kicks down to and talks bad about," Magnay said.
"Once we all got there, we realise how hardworking, how family-driven they are. We just try to buy into those values, and show the rest of Australia that we're an application of who Tasmanians are. We just try to do our best for them. Win or lose, we just play our heart out. We know they're proud of us."
Now, Game 5 wasn't so much the JackJumpers defending their island -- they weren't able to close out the series at home in Game 4 -- but more an invasion of the mainland, setting foot in Melbourne, only to break their hearts.
The sentiment holds, nonetheless. The JackJumpers -- who represent Australia's 'little island', as it was jovially put by United head coach Dean Vickerman before the series -- got the job done, for the NBL's newest franchise, but mainly, Roth says, for the people of Tasmania.
"It's not gonna change my life, but I really was trying to change other people's lives," Roth said.
"That's kind of what I believe myself to be at this point. Not a coach, but a mentor, a leader; to bring this back to the island and give people hope. I've got an incredible staff. To have them with smiles on their faces, and these players. For me personally, it's a nice thing, but I get my gratification with what you see around me, and all the hard work.
"That's enough for me."