Best Taipans performance of season delivers big win

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans produced their best four quarter performance of the 2021 NBL season and were rewarded on the scoreboard with the 84-69 victory at home against the New Zealand Breakers.

The Taipans entered Monday night's last game of Round 4 back at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena determined to not only make up for Saturday night's loss against the same opponent, but to put an end to the unwanted six-game losing streak.

Right from the outset the Snakes were switched on and hungry to get their second win of the season, and by the end of the evening in front of the Orange Army, they had led virtually from start to finish on the way to the 15-point victory.

The Taipans weren’t in the mood to mess around. Coach Mike Kelly pulled Kouat Noi from the floor after a minute unhappy with a missed assignment and by the end of the game in hindsight, that could very well have been instrumental in the final result.

George Blagojevic replaced Noi and gave an immediate spark with a three-pointer, offensive rebound and putback basket. Then to his everlasting credit, Noi returned to the floor ready to make amends and not only did that, but he might very well have produced the best performance of his NBL career.

Noi returned full of energy defending well and scoring seven quick points before quarter-time.

The end result was by far the best Cairns defensive performance of the season holding the Breakers to just the 32 points for the first half and 69 for the entire game while only shooting 37 per cent from the field and going 4/29 from three-point range.

Offensively, it was most encouraging for the Taipans to finally get the depth of contributors to provide the support needed for superstar imports Cam Oliver and Scott Machado.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly was delighted with his team's effort and especially what he got from both Blagojevic and Noi.

"It feels good and a lot better than losing. I just loved the effort and energy from the guys for four quarters. It wasn’t always pretty but it was always good energy from the guys," Kelly said.

"At the start, Kouat just made a couple of mistakes on the scout and what we were trying to do so we took him off and spoke to him about remembering those things, and George came on and played very well.

"Kouat was still up and about on the bench, and cheering for George which was great and then he was ready to go when he went back in, and played really well himself. We're just trying to consistently do the things we're staying we are going to do, and guys did that tonight."

They still had good games for the Snakes with Oliver contributing eight points and 11 rebounds, and Machado running the ship nicely for 13 points and 11 assists, but they got enormous help even with Mirko Djeric again missing with a sore hamstring.

Majok Deng's energy was the best perhaps it's ever been at both ends in a Taipans singlet and he was rewarded with 21 points, three rebounds and two blocks.

Noi was superb after returning too for 18 points and five rebounds while going 4/7 from long-range with Blagojevic producing a career-best 10 points, three boards and two steals.

Jordan Ngatai started for the second straight game for another six points and three rebounds with Mojave King, Nate Jawai, Jarrod Kenny and Fabijan Krslovic all scoring two points each.

After the quick substitution in the opening minute, George Blagojevic hit a huge contested three to get the Snakes rolling. Soon after he grabbed the offensive board and put it back in sparking a 6-0 run to make the lead 11-5.

Kouat Noi then returned to the court and scored seven quick points as the Snakes went into quarter-time leading 22-16.

The Taipans' lead then went beyond double-figures to start the second quarter when Scott Machado found Nate Jawai for the strong finish. Majok Deng then dropped a triple and so did Noi and Jordan Ngatai heading towards half-time with the home team in control 43-32.

Noi then opened the second half with the first five points as Cairns' lead grew 16 and before long it was 22 as Deng and Ngatai combined for eight consecutive points. 

The Breakers knew it was now or never to respond and they did go on an 8-2 run, but the Taipans were still in control by 16 heading into the fourth.

Machado opened the final term with a big three and then Cam Oliver made the margin 19, but the Breakers fought back and were just eight down with under four minutes left. 

But Deng responded with his third thunderous two-handed dunk of the game and Cairns ended this game on a 9-2 run to make up for Saturday to win by 15.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 4

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 84 (Deng 21, Noi 18, Machado 13)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 69 (T Webster 13, Delany 11, Loe 10) 

BOX SCORE