As Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie defended his club over the handling of a star player, Tasmania JackJumpers mentor Scott Roth has been left beaming with pride over reaching another NBL Championship Series.
The JackJumpers produced a tremendous performance at RAC Arena on Wednesday night to win game three of their Playoff Series against the Wildcats 100-84 to set up a Championship Series with Melbourne United.
While the Wildcats season ended with a lot to be proud of after finishing second at the end of the regular season, Rillie came out swinging post-match.
Star big man Keanu Pinder was a match-winner in game one last Friday with 25 points including a career-best five three-pointers.
But he found the going harder on Monday in Hobart playing under 14 minutes for seven points and five rebounds.
Then on Wednesday, he went scoreless in 19 and-a-half minutes, after the Wildcats had been challenged following footage on Monday which appeared to show Pinder suffering from a head knock.
Rillie came to the defence of the club and was fuming over the distraction caused by speculative comments about Pinder, who had to undergo concussion testing.
"We have a qualified medical staff and I have my players' wellbeing at the highest on my list," he said.
"When we have uneducated comments being made about something that happened, I would question whether those people really have the player's wellbeing at the forefront of their mind.
"It's very disappointing and it was a distraction, absolutely."
Tasmania, meanwhile, turn their attention to their Championship Series against Melbourne United with the opening game on Sunday at John Cain Arena in Melbourne.
It is a second appearance battling for the title in the three years the JackJumpers have been in the NBL and they're hoping to go one better than last season when they pushed the New Zealand Breakers to three games.
They produced a commanding game three performance with 24 points and nine assists from Milton Doyle, a career-best 27 points from Jack McVeigh and Will Magnay delivering 18 points and nine rebounds.
Their defence proved stifling with their spirit, heart and desire shining through as Roth focused on bringing a championship back to Tasmania.
""This is a win for Tasmania, a place that we love and we defend the island for them, and there's 500,000 there who were cheering for us tonight and we felt that energy," he said.
"My driving force is to bring something back into Tasmania and win a championship to allow these people to celebrate the moment.
"People like to step onto Tasmania with whatever they want to say about us and not give us the respect we deserve, but the people are hardworking, loving families who really just want the best for whatever's going on in the state.
"They've rallied around this team and me personally to bring a championship back, it won't change my life, but it will change 500,000 people's lives if we can bring something like that back into the state who need something to continue to rally around.
"Our guys are very passionate about what we do there and I can't thank the fan base enough."
