The Tasmania JackJumpers are preparing for the NBL's most frenzied time of the season with the opening game of their first-ever grand final series looming.
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The stakes could scarcely be higher as they travel to Sydney to take on the championship favourite Kings with every game set to determine whether Tasmania could provide the state with their first NBL trophy since 1981.
The finals games are personified by pressure and manic intensity across the league's best of five games format.
However, coach Scott Roth wants his players to feel the pressure from in their locker room rather than on-court performance.
"The pressure really for me is the accountability for each other, when you sit in the locker room and look to the left and to the right are you being accountable to those guys," he said.
"That's where your pressure comes from, it should come internally, it shouldn't be about making shots or those kind of things, it should be about 'am I holding up my end of the bargain?' and what we said we going to do, that's where your pressure should come from."
We're just going to keep marching and throwing haymakers
- Josh Adams on the JackJumpers' approach to finals
It is a belief that has fuelled the JackJumpers to their first-ever grand finals series in their debut season.
When Roth was busy constructing the roster prior to the season, this is exactly what he envisaged.
"During the process of trying to recruit these guys to come here, when they started talking about minutes or starting or those kind of things, I said thank you but no thank you and moved on to the next person," he said.
"The strength of the group is the group, that they are unselfish and they're willing to do their jobs at any particular time and don't care about minutes or shots."
The group that Roth describes faces a sizeable task on Friday when they face the Kings in front of Sydney's vocal home crowd.
Chase Buford became the youngest coach in NBL history to sweep a playoff series when the Kings accounted for Illawarra in their semi-finals. That side also has this season's MVP in Jaylen Adams.
Despite some external commentary suggesting the Kings could sweep the JackJumpers, American Josh Adams said Tasmania was internally focused.
"We don't care about it, whether it is about individual players or this team, we just go about our business, we keep building, we keep fighting and keep throwing haymakers," he said.
"That's same thing we're going to do in this series, whether we win in three, lose in three, win in four whatever it may be, we're just going to keep marching and throwing haymakers."
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