NBL Championship Series Takeaways: 'The shot' has Tassie within touching distance

One of the biggest shots in NBL history, a series-shifting adjustment from Scott Roth, and the No. 1 team in the league on the ropes.

Game 3 delivered in a monumental way.

Jack McVeigh's three-pointer from the edge of the centre-court logo was the difference on Sunday night; the shot giving the Tasmania JackJumpers a 93-91 win over United -- in Melbourne's John Cain Arena -- and a 2-1 lead in the 2024 NBL Championship Series.

United looked to have slight control in this one, but the JackJumpers now have the opportunity to close out the series -- and win this season's title -- in a Game 4, in their own building.

Here are the key takeaways from a high-octane, back-and-forth Game 3, as we then look ahead to what's sure to be one of the most tense weeks in Tasmanian sports history.

Breaking down 'the shot'

The logo at the centre of the court is of this NBL Championship Series, so it was only fitting that McVeigh hit his incredible shot from that spot.

United was up 91-90 with 8.1 seconds to play, with Matthew Dellavedova inbounding the ball from the sideline. The JackJumpers still had two more fouls to give before United was in the bonus, so they likely would've hacked someone as soon as the ball was inbounded.

The JackJumpers denied everyone, so Dellavedova attempted to pass the ball to the corner, where Chris Goulding was being shadowed by Sean Macdonald. Rule No. 1 of inbounding is to not pass it to the corner, because the two sidelines act as a pair of extra defenders. The ball floated over Goulding and Milton Doyle, who was guarding the inbound, hustled to save the ball from going out of bounds on the baseline. In hindsight, he could've let the ball fly out, but, not knowing who touched it last, he decided to keep it inbounds.

"I didn't know," Doyle said, on why he saved the ball.

"I saw Seany jump, and I couldn't tell if he touched it or not. I wasn't gonna leave it up to the refs to make a decision. So, saving it and I looked, I saw Jack, just got him the ball."

McVeigh caught the saved ball on his own block with about seven seconds to play, turned, took five dribbles down the middle of the court, and pulled up for a 35-footer.

"It looked good," Doyle said. "I was seeing from behind the play, when he released it; it looked good."

It was good. McVeigh's shot gave the JackJumpers a 93-91 lead with 1.2 seconds left on the clock, with Dellavedova's heave at the buzzer no good.

"It was obviously a hell of a shot that Jack made," JackJumpers head coach Scott Roth said, postgame. "I feel for them over there, to be quite honest with you, because I've lost games like that."

"It's just another shot. If we happen to somehow win a championship, they'll talk about it. Otherwise, it's just another shot that went in. He's had two of them this year. He's just one of those guys that loves those kinds of moments."

It was an unbelievable shot at the best of times, but the moment -- in a Championship Series, to give your team a series lead heading into a closeout game at home -- makes it one of the biggest, and most significant in NBL history.

Don Nelson, Majok Deng, and the JackJumpers' death lineup

We saw a bold shakeup of the JackJumpers' rotations in this one. Majok Deng, who's received spot minutes over the course of the postseason, got an extended run in Game 3, and primarily at the five-spot.

Deng played the last 7:30 of the game as the centre in a small ball unit we haven't seen much of from the JackJumpers this season. The versatile forward had given his team a lift to start the fourth quarter, but it was still a risky move from Roth, because the matchup on the other side was one of Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. or Ariel Hukporti.

We saw United immediately attack him down low, with some success, but it was Deng who was able to pick-and-pop on the other end, and either shoot the three-ball or attack the hard closeout from slower-footed bigs. The tactic was largely working; the JackJumpers were playing with an extra pop, especially offensively.

"I probably should give a shoutout to Don Nelson, with small ball," Roth said.

Roth was an assistant under Nelson at the Golden State Warriors back in 2010 -- the year the franchise drafted Stephen Curry -- so he got a close look at 'Nellie Ball', and utilised some of those strategies in this one.

"I just thought that it was time for [Deng], to see if we could get going. We came out of the huddle and he drilled his first three off a set play that we had just diagramed. He's a scorer, and when he sees the ball go through and his length, he's obviously a deciding factor here."

Deng finished the game with 15 points, and was a +13, facilitating the JackJumpers' version of a 'death lineup', playing five-out and really stretching United's defence.

"It made it easier for guys to get off me, and have to make some decisions with Jook," Doyle said of the JackJumpers' smaller units.

"Jook's an amazing scorer, he can score from anywhere on the court. We see him every day in practice. Having him pop and shoot some threes, then they have to close out to him and he can put it on the floor. His length, getting at the rim, is hard to guard. It made it easier for me and everyone else on the floor."

At the 4:42 mark in the fourth quarter, Dean Vickerman had seen enough. He went to a small ball unit of his own, with a Luke Travers and Kyle Bowen frontcourt.

All of a sudden, Lual-Acuil Jr. and Hukporti were sitting on one bench, while Will Magnay and Marcus Lee -- who suffered a knee injury in the third quarter -- were on the other, with the game going down to the wire. That would have been an unfathomable reality going into the series. It was a chess match. Roth went small and funky, then Vickerman followed suit.

"We put our small ball group in there, and probably still didn't quite get the communication right about how we needed to defend with that small ball group," Vickerman said. "So, that's on me to make sure that message gets across better.

Asked if he considered putting Magnay back on the floor when United went small: "No," Roth said.

"I thought Jack and Jook can handle guarding guys for the most-part, keeping them in front. They obviously have some elite scorers and seasoned players over there. Jook's length is a factor at times, and Jack's improved his defence. I never thought about going back to that. They were playing well together and they were moving the ball, and they were creating some space."

Lee's injury looked concerning, and he left John Cain Arena on crutches -- significantly favouring his left leg -- so Roth may be forced to go back to that small-ball lineup anyway. If Game 3 is any indication, it may be the JackJumpers' secret weapon.

Where United lost it: the JackJumpers' 'daggers'

There were two numbers that really stood out in this one: the JackJumpers' offensive rebounds and three-point attempts.

The JackJumpers ended the game with 21 offensive rebounds, and shot 16-of-33 from beyond the three-point line. Up until this point, the most three-point attempts United had given up in this Championship Series was 20. Instead, the JackJumpers' ball movement and versatile lineups had United's defence scrambling, leading to higher quality looks from three.

"It's what they've done all year," Vickerman said.

"We talked about it, and it was a massive factor in the game. The two areas you need to be good against this team is: how you box out, and how you guard the three-point line. We weren't good enough in either of those two today."

The real killer is when those offensive rebounds lead to kick-out threes -- something the JackJumpers refer to as 'daggers' -- which hurt United in a big way in Game 3. The JackJumpers would shoot a high percentage from downtown, on a heap of attempts, and some were among their 14 second chance points.

"We're not analytically driven," Roth said.

"We just shoot a lot of them in general because of how our set and our system works. When you get 21 [offensive] rebounds, you get a lot of reloads -- what we call 'daggers' -- and, when those daggers start to present themselves, those are actually the easiest threes over the course of a game.

"To get on the glass as much as we were, and get those reloads, was hugely important for us to continue to have the scoreboard tick over."

A single shot deciding this game is an indication of how tight it was, so there was good and bad from both teams that made for such an even affair. By the same token, that shot came from a turnover, and the energy and urgency that leads to defensive rebounding is a controllable that could be the difference between winning a title and not, so it's an area of concern that needs to be addressed.

"I think there's a lot of things that worked [and] some things we need to work on and execute the coverage and the gameplay a bit better," Dellavedova said. "16 threes is too many; same with the O-boards."

Roth shakes up his philosophy

This was a small thing, but it likely played a huge part in the JackJumpers staying in the game early on.

Doyle picked up foul No. 2 with just under six minutes to play in the second quarter. Over the season, Roth has been steadfast on taking his players out of the game when they pick up two fouls before half-time.

Not on Sunday.

Doyle stayed in the game and, with United threatening to go on a run, hit back-to-back threes to keep the JackJumpers within a single possession going into the main break.

"It's now or never," Roth said, on why he kept Doyle in the game.

"I don't know if we'll ever be back to this spot ever again. Just roll the dice and go. You think, basically, that if he plays 30 minutes, he's probably gonna have four or five fouls anyways... In your mind, you're just thinking: can he play 30 minutes with four fouls, which he's done at times during the course of the year?

"Let's let it rip."