Forde issues challenge to Taipans

Cairns Taipans coach Adam Forde has blasted his side as their finals hopes quickly fade away.

The Taipans have lost five of their past six games, including a heartbreaking Valentine’s Day defeat to the last placed New Zealand Breakers.

Cairns fell behind by 26 points in the first half on their home court, before a late rally was unsuccessful, as they lost by one-point.

Coach Forde held nothing back in the film review, emphasising his anger of the team repeating the same mistakes.

“We forgot how to play basketball in the first half,” Forde said via the Cairns Post.

“We went through it upstairs (watching tape), and my frustration is the sense that we’re highlighting the same deficiencies in our offence and our defence each week.

“It’s gotta be changed, that’s where I’m at…we’ve lost five of our past six, not great.”

One shining light for the Taipans has been the performance of Keanu Pinder.

Pinder had 16 points in an energetic 21 minutes off the bench on Monday night and Forde has revealed he will reward him with a spot in the starting line-up.

“He’s the only one giving us anything,” Forde said.

“I think Keanu’s been our best player, so why wouldn’t I reward him with a starting position?

“In the past four games, he’s been our most consistent individual, so I think I need to reward that.”

Cairns are on the road to face the Illawarra Hawks on Friday night. Tip-off is at 7:30pm AEDT and fans can watch the game on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel.