Career-best night from King against Bullets

Mojave King's breakout party and another masterclass from Scott Machado wasn’t quite enough for the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans against the Brisbane Bullets on Wednesday night, but there are now two more home games to look forward to.

The Wednesday night battle between the Queensland rivals was supposed to be the final game for the Taipans at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena and it was a loud and vocal Orange Army crowd that turned out for the occasion.

The Taipans themselves came out with great energy as well determined to snap an unwanted seven-game losing streak racing to a 13-7 lead with King and Machado on fire, and Jordan Ngatai knocking down a three ball.

The Snakes were able to keep touch with the Bullets most of the rest of the night with no more than 10 points ever separating the two teams, but down the stretch it was Brisbane who made the winning plays.

The Taipans closed to within three again on a Venky Jois put back with just under two minutes left, but the Snakes couldn’t quite hit the make the tying basket including an open attempt from Jois with Brisbane going on to win 101-96.

It was the night that Mojave King has been promising to deliver all season for the Taipans and he put on a spectacular show highlighting why he was signed as a Next Star and why he still is seen to have an NBA future down the track.

The 18-year-old has had a rollercoaster ride in his first year as a professional, but he was at his best on Wednesday night both when in attack mode attacking the basket and getting in the paint, and in looking for his outside shot.

As a result he finished with a career-best 25 points on 9/15 shooting from the floor, 4/9 from three-point territory and 3/3 from the foul line. And on a team that lost and with some teammates deep into the minus, he had a plus-13 differential when he was on the court in over 29 minutes.

Coach Mike Kelly was full of praise for what King was able to produce in his best performance of the season.

"He came out ready. It was really great to see him knock down shots and attack the rim, he did a great job," Kelly said.

"This is Mo getting better. This is Mo playing 29 minutes and getting those opportunities and making those shots. It is a progression. The other end is a progression as well. Learning how to defend ... it has been a great progression to watch, and he is only going to keep getting better."

King still has a lot to weigh up in terms of his immediate future, but all he knows is that game was the best he's felt on an NBL floor all season.

"It felt good, I am just trying to bring the energy," he said.

"I am not sure what my plant are yet, I will just keep working hard as I can to be the best player I can be."

Scott Machado is finishing the season right back to his best form running the point too and he produced another 23 points, 11 assists and six rebounds while going 8/15 from the field and 3/6 from beyond the arc.

Nate Jawai had his moments of dominance down low on Indigenous Round too with 12 points and seven rebounds with Majok Deng adding 12 points and Jordan Ngatai nine.

Tad Dufelmeier added another seven points and two steals with Venky Jois finishing with six points and five rebounds, and George Blagojevic two points and two steals.

Kelly was disappointed with the loss, but full of praise for the effort, shown by his charges.

"I thought (the effort) was really good, we got to a point where had a shot to tie the game," he said.

"The group was attacking, and we ended up with a wide open shot. I was really happy after getting down by 11, bringing that thing back and giving ourselves a shot."

This was supposed to be the last home game of the season for the Taipans but they now have two more matches to look forward to at the Pop-Up Arena against the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday and Melbourne United on Monday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 20

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 96 (King 25, Machado 23, Deng 12, Jawai 12)

BRISBANE BULLETS 101 (Sobey 21, Froling 20, Harrison 13) 

BOX SCORE