Game Preview: Taipans v United

Fresh off two home wins, the Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans now venture south to Victoria to visit last year’s grand finalists – Melbourne United. Both teams are entering Sunday after winning their respective games on Friday night.

Taipans import Tanner Groves will not join the team in Melbourne after injuring his calf against Tasmania, with development player Alex Higgins-Titsha taking his place in the line-up.

Where and When

Sunday, October 6 at the John Cain Arena, Melbourne (1:30pm AEST)

How to Follow

Watch: Live on Channel 10 and ESPN
Live Updates: Taipans X
Stats: Box Score

What’s Already Happened

Round 3 Results

Cairns Taipans (90) v Tasmania JackJumpers (78)

Melbourne United (97) v Perth Wildcats (68)

The elephant in the room for Melbourne, will be their results against Cairns over the past two years. The Taipans went undefeated against United last season, handing them losses with an average of 13 points. The only win Melbourne have managed to register in the past two years was in December 2022, with a narrow 84-81 win

Of course, it’s a new season and a new team – with the Taipans’ boasting an overhauled roster, with Taran Armstrong, Jonah Antonio, Sam Waardenburg and AK Gak the only returning players from last year.

Despite the revamp, the Snakes have hit the ground running – only losing their opening game against the Illawarra Hawks – and have now won two games in a row at home.

Returning from injury in their latest win, guard Taran Armstrong excelled with the new roster – putting up 20 points at an efficient 90%, whilst dishing out five assists. Despite being planned to appear for no more than 20 minutes, the Taipans coaching staff struggled to rest him with the guard finishing with a plus/minus of +22.

In their home opener, Cairns shot the lights out – hitting 15 shots from behind the arc at 51% – before calming down on Friday night where they nearly halved their makes despite still shooting the three ball at 42%. This is something that Armstrong admitted that they should focus on increasing going into future games, with Cairns only second to Adelaide for three-point efficiency and third for field goal percentage.

Rolling into John Cain Arena for their own first game on their home court, United are coming off the highest road win at RAC Arena since its opening.

Melbourne will enter the fixture after restricting their opponents to 39% efficiency – leading the league in that stat. However, they have yet to face a quick firing team like the Taipans, having faced the JackJumpers twice who have struggled to hit their shots, and only time will tell how well they can shut down the electric Snake’s shooters.

Player to Watch

Teased during the pre-season as a deadly combination, AK Gak has already shown the chemistry that he and fellow Taipan Kyle Adnam have. With centre Tanner Groves’ injury and the team needing to play extended minutes to cover him, Gak will be eyeing up more court time with the guard – who is fighting for more minutes himself.

The forward hasn’t been fortunate with minutes so far this season but took advantage of the limited time that he has spent on the court – sending shots flying at one end, whilst putting up crucial points at the other.

What’s Been Said

Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde:

“We’re not a finished product, so there’s a lot of lessons to learn to take away from this game – the lessons are easier to teach after a win compared to if it was a loss and it was a tougher pill to swallow.

“There are some things that are going to be transferable when we play Melbourne, and so the review is going to be quick. We’re going to have some clips of the areas we want to work on and improve, knowing that we’re going into a tough venue in Melbourne, and like Tassie they’re the gold standard.”

United Head Coach Dean Vickerman:

“Anytime you beat the JackJumpers it’s a good win, and they’re playing really good basketball, and now they’ve got Taran Armstrong back as well.

“We didn’t beat them last year, and it was something in the review of the season that really dug pretty deep into, and what was it that didn’t allow us to beat Cairns.

“But they’re playing really good basketball, and Forde is a hell of a coach. We’re just looking forward to playing the game on Sunday knowing these first four games were on the road.”

The Lineups

Taipans
PG – Taran Armstrong / Kyle Adnam / Jackson Makoi
SG – Rob Edwards / Jonah Antonio
SF – Pedro Bradshaw / Alex Higgins-Titsha
PF – Sam Waardenburg / Akoldah Gak
C – Kyrin Galloway / Dillon Stith

United
PG – Shea Ili / Flynn Cameron / Joel Foxwell
SG – Matthew Dellavedova / Ian Clark / Campbell Blogg
SF – Chris Goulding / Tanner Krebs
PF – Jack White / Kyle Bowen / Tom Koppens
C – Marcus Lee / Rob Loe / Akech Aliir

Ins and Outs 

Taipans
Ins - Alex Higgins-Titsha
Outs - Tanner Groves (calf)

United
Ins – Matthew Dellavedova