Champs toppled, Cairns out to "conquer the world"

With 3:25 left to play in the second quarter on Friday night, the Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans trailed reigning champions Sydney by 26 points (48-22).

To most, it appeared Cairns was headed for its seventh loss of the season, but not the Taipans themselves.

A three-pointer as time expired for half-time by star Jack McVeigh and a stirring speech by Adam Forde, in his 200th NBL game, acted as catalysts for the biggest comeback of the season.

These, along with a barrage of triples and strong play from Australian Boomer Keanu Pinder, fuelled the host's 31-14 third period.

They then carried that momentum into the fourth, to record a gutsy two-point win.

After the victory, Head Coach Forde reflected on the second-half turnaround.

“Water finds its level, and it sure did,” Forde said.

“We had a lot of good looks in the first half. We talked about some things that we wanted to clean up at half-time, defensively and rebounding and shot-wise, but we had a lot of good looks.

“No coincidence that the game kind of turned when Keanu got going there as well.

“Reyne [Smith] found other ways to impact the game. He did that defensively, and then he hit some massive threes, one of which was the go-ahead lead.

“The defending champs, who were sitting on top of the table, we came back from 26 down.

“So [now I’m telling the boys] you can go out there and conquer the world if you want.”

McVeigh echoed his coach’s thoughts, emphasising the importance of Pinder’s 24 points and 10 boards, in what was arguably his best game of the season.

“Tonight was just great because, when you’re down 25, things can go ugly quickly,” McVeigh added.

“For us to stick together and trust in what [coach] was doing, keep the huddles and come out there and follow Keanu’s lead.

“When Keanu is active defensively, rolling hard and putting rim pressure, that’s the best version of K’s basketball, and when he plays like that it’s fun to be out there with him.

“Every huddle we’re just hyping each other up tonight. That was the focus heading into the game. That was the focus of the week.

“When we’re playing that style that I keep yapping about, that pace, good things happen for us. That was [definitely] a fun second half.”

Cairns, who now sit in third with an 8-6 record, next host Perth on Friday night from 6:30pm AEST, live on ESPN. Grab your tickets HERE.