Game Preview: Taipans v Breakers

It’s back to basketball business for the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans, as they look for their first win of the season against the New Zealand Breakers and improve on their 6-8 record. 

It’s been a remarkable week for the club, playing at the Cairns Convention Centre and experiencing an abnormal power surge, travelling to Adelaide the following day and then returning to Cairns in time to prepare and brace for Cyclone Jasper.

In between battling the Far North Queensland elements, the Taipans managed to break a number of records during their quick trip to South Australia – defeating the 36ers 115 – 106 and posting their best first and fourth quarter scores of the year.

The final score of 116 points set a new league-high score for the 2023-24 NBL season (which beat the previous high score of 115, also set by the Taipans in Melbourne) as Tahjere McCall’s 15 assists set a franchise record, with the most assists by any NBL player in the 40-minute era in the last decade.

While it was a big win on the road, and the first time the team have won consecutive away games – Cairns still dropped their home game against Sydney, after beating them earlier in the season.

The team were on court Tuesday despite the impending tropical cyclone that was expected to hit Cairns the following day, as Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde said his priority was keeping the players focused on the task at hand.

“We’re here – it’s business. That’s what's really important. Especially since the FIBA break, our focus has been that when we're here, we need to train hard, and we need to get better.

“The outside noise and influence doesn't change. The media coverage of Tropical Cyclone Jasper is the same media coverage we're getting about, you know, player awards and next stars.

“It's about keeping the mental focus here with what needs to get done.”

Following the cyclone, without skipping a beat the team returned to training on Thursday morning to prepare for this weekend’s home-away double-header.

“It’s a big weekend for us in the sense of trying to get us back into the Top Six. We get these two wins and we’re in the six. And it starts with a home game against New Zealand,” Forde explained. 

“We've already lost to New Zealand twice, so it's important that we make sure we continue with the form of things that we want to lock in on for us, but obviously try and not get a clean sweep rewarded to New Zealand by a lack of discipline.

“So we’ll be switched on and ready to go.”

The Taipans host the Breakers tonight at 6:30pm (get TICKETS HERE) before travelling to Brisbane to play the Bullets on Sunday, 3:00pm. Watch on ESPN or 10 Peach.