Dynamic Oliver not quite enough for Snakes v Kings

It was a second tight battle in seven days between the finalists from last year but this time despite some remarkable physical displays from Cam Oliver, the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans couldn’t quite get the win with the Sydney Kings prevailing 99-91.

Oliver put on a stunning show for the Taipans in front of the Orange Army with some thunderous dunks, making one remarkable 360 spin move and making some huge defensive players sending a reminder of why the Snakes were so keen to have him return.

He ended up having a fascinating battle with the Kings' former NBA import Jarell Martin too and while Scott Machado, Mojave King, Kouat Noi, Majok Deng and Mirko Djeric all had their moments for Cairns, Sydney was able to hold them out.

The Taipans overran the Kings last Saturday for the 87-86 victory and the Snakes looked like doing that again a couple of times with momentum swinging their way in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t to be and the Kings held on to win by nine.

It was the third game in a week for the Taipans inside the Cairns Pop-Up Arena and Oliver produced a brilliant game for 27 points, 10 rebounds, three blocked shots, two assists and two steals while shooting 12/22 from the field.

His partner in crime Machado was solid too with 14 points and nine assists but he fouled out with more than five minutes remaining.

Noi scored another 13 points for the Taipans, NBL Next Star King 12 points and four rebounds, Djeric 10 points, and Deng nine points and five boards. Jarrod Kenny (five assists), Nate Jawai and Fabijan Krslovic all scored two points each.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly pointed to his team's defence and rebounding behind the loss, and is looking for it to improve quickly ahead of Monday.

"It all came down to our defence and rebounding, and a Kings team that was in attack mode and made shots. If we could stop their penetration and rebound the ball I think we would have been in a much better position," Kelly said.

"It was a problem tonight and we didn’t give as many points up in the first quarter as we did in the first two games. But we haven’t defended the way we need to defend to be a championship level team. It is an issue and until we fix it, it's an issue.

"As a group, that's all I really care about how we perform and we need five guys working together out there defending as a group. When they all do that I think we'll be able to move forward."

Scott Machado started off focused for the Taipans scoring the team's first three baskets before Cam Oliver got rolling with a three ball. 

Mojave King then came on to give the Snakes a real spark midway through the first term hitting two quick triples including one on the buzzer. But the Kings still led 23-22 after one largely on the back of nine offensive boards.

The Kings did extend that gap through the second quarter and even though the Taipans got back within two shortly before half-time on the back of a 9-2 run, Sydney hit the last seven points of the half to lead 48-37 at the break.

Again 14 offensive rebounds helped Sydney get up nine more shots in the half with the nine Cairns turnovers not helping either but Oliver was imposing with 11 points.

Oliver then came out a man possessed for the second half finishing strongly inside while also standing tall defensively up the other end. He then stepped out to make a three and when Machado also hit from deep, the Snakes closed to within five and had momentum.

Sydney responded briefly with six quick points but then a four-point Kouat Noi play sparked the Taipans with Oliver, King and Fabijan Krslovic all scoring inside. Noi hit another three and King scored again and suddenly it was a one-point ball game at three quarter-time.

But again the Taipans had to play catch up with the Kings hitting the opening seven fourth quarter points. A monstrous had to be seen to be believed Oliver dunk helped Cairns to another 6-0 run to stay close and the margin was again two when he scored with three minutes left.

But the Snakes couldn’t quite get the baskets or stops required in the dying minutes and the Kings won by eight.

The Taipans now have the rapid turnaround before hosting the undefeated Melbourne United back at the pop-up on Monday evening.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 2

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 91 (Oliver 27, Machado 14, Noi 13)

SYDNEY KINGS 99 (Martin 22, Ware 22, Newley 17) 

BOX SCORE