Game Preview: Taipans v Phoenix

Walking into John Cain Arena only 48 hours after going down to the reigning Champions, the Taipans will be missing AK Gak when they face the Phoenix, while Sam Waardenburg will be nursing an injured thumb from Thursday night. 

Where and When

Saturday, 7 December at John Cain Arena, Melbourne (7:00pm AEST)

How to Follow

Watch: Live on ESPN

Live Updates: Taipans X

Stats: Box Score

What’s Already Happened

Their Last Battle: Cairns Taipans (74) v South East Melbourne Phoenix (97) in Round 8

As injured players have returned to the lineup, the Taipans have inched ever closer to clinching a win – with the returns of Pedro Bradshaw and Kyrin Galloway nearly pushing Cairns over the hurdle. 

However, without AK Gak to help put pressure on the rim, Will Magnay dominated Thursday night’s fixture with 18 points, 13 rebounds, nine fouls drawn, and a plus/minus of +18 to help Tasmania walk away with the win.

Returning to John Cain Arena for their fourth visit in just over two months, the Taipans will be returning to the site of their 13-point victory against Melbourne United in Round 3, hoping to replicate their result against the ladder leaders.

In his second game in Melbourne, Pedro Bradshaw will also be looking to replicate his last performance from that night when he put up 10 points and nine rebounds to hand the win to Cairns.

The board to the bucket for Bradshaw 😤

📲 @cairnstaipans | 📺 @espn pic.twitter.com/ud49BZP6hA

— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) October 6, 2024

The trip to the Victorian capital will be the American’s second game since returning from injury – an injury that was expecting him to be sidelined into 2025 – as the power forward will look to follow his teammate’s own returns from injury on his way to discover his double-double form.

After entering their last matchup with the Taipans following a shocking nine of 41 performance from deep a few nights prior, the Phoenix flipped a switch to shoot a perfect five of five from range to open their night.

Despite this hot performance however, the Victorians have been unable to reignite this fire – dropping from an efficiency of 45% on that night to 33% to split their two games since last facing Cairns.

On the rise for the Phoenix is young guard Owen Foxwell, who joined with Jordan Hunter to lead them to a late victory against the Hawks in Round 10. Putting up a career high 22 points, six boards and seven assists in that appearance, Foxwell has seen a rapid rise in minutes since Josh King took over the role of Head Coach at the Phoenix.

Whilst the Taipans will enter the matchup after flying directly from Hobart after their Thursday night game, the Phoenix will walk onto the court refreshed with six days since their last game, and not travelling since mid-November.

Player to Watch

Exploding since the FIBA break, Taran Armstrong has put up 28 and 29 points across the last two games but will enter a venue where he’s struggled to cross the 15-point hurdle – a barrier that he will be wanting to overcome when he returns to John Cain Arena.

The Boomers prospect has seen a rapid increase in his scoring output since taking over the running of the Taipans, with many of the sides early wins attributed to the point guard running the offence.

Armstrong on another level tonight 😤

Taran with the TOUGH and-one!

📲 @cairnstaipans | 📺 @espn pic.twitter.com/SbbpROgfvw

— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) December 5, 2024

The point guard has also seen a sizeable improvement on the defensive end of the court by drawing 15 fouls across his last two performances and working with Jonah Antonio to lock down that end of the court.

What’s Been Said

Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde:

“We’ve done this double header last time where we had a hell of a battle against Adelaide and then rolled into Melbourne and got beaten up by 40, so it’s important that we put a lot of emphasis on recovery.

“The guys will get a good rest, then it’s a quick flight – only an hour and a half from Hobart to Melbourne – and then we’ll give them the afternoon to repair and rest their bodies.

“This is the cool thing about these guys – they’re young and they’re professional athletes, so their bodies will bounce back pretty quick, and we’ve got to do something about this slump.”

The Lineups

Taipans

PG – Taran Armstrong / Jackson Makoi / Kyle Adnam

SG – Rob Edwards / Jonah Antonio

SF – Pedro Bradshaw / Alex Higgins-Titsha

PF – Sam Waardenburg / Dillon Stith

C – Tanner Groves / Kyrin Galloway

Phoenix

PG – Angus Glover / Owen Foxwell / Ben Ayre

SG – Nathan Sobey / Luke Rosendale / Luke Fennell

SF – Matthew Hurt / Joe Wieskamp / Matt Kenyon

PF – Malique Lewis / Tom Vodanovich

C – Jordan Hunter / Majok Majok

Ins and Outs 

Taipans

Ins – Alex Higgins-Titsha

Outs – AK Gak

Phoenix

Outs – Derrick Walton Jr. (illness)