Game Preview: Taipans v United

Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans will look to be recharged and ready to go when Melbourne United come to town for a Saturday night blockbuster at Cairns Convention Centre.

Fresh off of Thursday night’s 107-85 win against the Bullets in Brisbane, Head Coach Adam Forde emphasised rest and rejuvenation for his side, who will face a United team that hasn’t played since last Sunday.

“It's important the boys with the recovery,” Forde said.

“It's going to be really important; we want to manage the bodies and get everybody rested for a good turnaround.

“Melbourne are very good and they've found a lot of form and they're going to be ready.”

United come to Far North Queensland after defeating reigning NBL champions Sydney Kings last Sunday and have looked to have their season back on track.

Cairns will be buoyed from their recent victory against United in Melbourne, which has sparked a recent run of five victories in the past six outings.

Big man Jonah Bolden continues to fill the stat sheet in a vital role coming off the bench, finishing with a game-high 13 rebounds to go with seven points, four steals, three assists and two blocks in 22 minutes against the Bullets.

It was Bolden’s second straight game with 13 or more rebounds, and Forde says Bolden thinks he has “only scratched the surface”.

“That really excites me,” Forde said. “We don’t even have the final version of that yet.

“For a guy that averages like 22, 23 minutes a game, his rebounding is remarkable.

“He’s just been amazing. I’m just going to keep trying to put him in the spots where I think he can capitalise.”

Bolden, alongside Keanu Pinder, will have another tough battle against United big man Josh Oduro, who is becoming a key pillar to the Melbourne game plan.

With five wins in the past six games, Cairns has also slowly got back to a near full strength line-up.

During this time NBL Next Star Luke Paul (ankle) made is big league and Jaylin Galloway (shoulder) returned from off-season surgery.

“The reasons why we struggled last year and the excuses we had for it are the reasons why we're sort of getting our footing. It's availability of players and depth,” Forde said.

“While we've got everybody available and we've got depth and availability of players, it's important and we want to make sure that we capitalise on that.”

Cairns still have key players on the injury list, but in a league that has multiple marquee players missing games, health is playing a bigger factor than normal this season.

“We are in a pretty good position right now where Sunday (Dech) is managing his hamstring. Walt (Walter Brown) unfortunately rolled his ankle, but nothing major,” Forde said.

“We have Jaylin Galloway back in the lineup, and we're obviously managed him tonight (against the Bullets).

Creating opportunities at both ends of the floor will be key in this match-up and the Taipans will need to be on point to maximise their effort.

Cairns are still ranked 10^th in rebounding this season, only grabbing 36 per game, while giving up offensive rebounds has been an issue, despite Bolden’s heroics on the glass.

The return of Chris Goulding to the United line-up will instantly generate more offense for the visitors, and the Taipans will need to quell the impact from the perimeter, which was a concern in the win against Brisbane.

“Brisbane had a lot of good looks that didn't drop for them, and so I think there were a couple of areas we got lucky,” Forde said.

“We had looks that did drop, you change the outcome of a few of those and then we find ourselves sweating a little bit.”

United import guard Cole Anthony has been a revelation in his debut NBL season and has the ability to win games on his own.

Anthony torched MVP-candidate Kendric Davis and the Sydney Kings last round in a methodical display which netted 30 points, nine assists and six rebounds.

Cairns know all too well of the impact Anthony can have, the 367-game NBA veteran scoring a game-high 40 points in the last match-up against the Taipans in Round 3.

Expect Forde to throw multiple defenders at Anthony, including Malique Lewis, who will give some extra size and length, along with Jaylon Brown and Galloway.