New-Look Taipans Find Their Bite

“Balance” was the message from Adam Forde after his team’s opening game win on Monday night.

Cairns went down by as many as 11 points early in the second quarter, before roaring back in the third. Last year’s grand finalists the Tasmania JackJumpers were no match for the run-and-gun antics of the Taipans, as they strolled to an eventual 24-point win.

After jacking up 48 threes in their Blitz game against the Bullets, the Taipans have quickly formed a reputation for being a trigger-happy team beyond the arc, and Forde says he’s happy his team could cover for their inaccurate shooting in the first half.

“We were shooting 2/12 at the half and this team’s built on shooting,” Forde said. “What was really cool was we were in touch through our defensive effort even though we made some errors defensively with our switching, but the checks and balances always balance out.

“Did I anticipate 39 points in the third quarter? Probably not, but I knew Bul (Kuol) was going to get going, I knew DJ (Hogg) was going to get going, Shannon (Scott) was going to get going. Stay with it, stay disciplined, stay with our stuff and it’ll flow.

“[Kuol] misses a couple of layups and he misses a wide open three, cool. He goes for 11 points in the third quarter. It always balances out. I trust it, I’m confident in it."

After finishing last season ninth on the ladder, the Taipans have undergone a drastic on-court transformation. Of the 10 players who made it onto the court on Monday night only six had pulled on a Cairns uniform before, and that even discounts absent first-year players Jonah Antonio and Lat Mayen.

Each of those four new faces were also making their NBL debuts.

“It’s the least experienced team we’ve ever put on the court and I thought the guys showed a lot of maturity and professionalism … we’re still building an identity so this is important.”

“We had our ups and downs and we weathered the storm. We burned some time-outs early and then there was a real moment in that fourth where the momentum swung towards Tassie.

“We stayed locked into the craft, and credit to Tassie and their crowd it was a great atmosphere and it got loud.”

After reigning NBL Most Improved Player Keanu Pinder went down clutching his knee in the third quarter, fears and thoughts immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario.

Pinder was helped off of the court and after some time on an exercise bike, he returned to the court with his knee heavily strapped.

Forde says his star man just picked up a bad corky due to an accidental knee on knee hit with Tasmania’s Milton Doyle.

“We’ll do our due diligence, but our initial assessment is corky – a pretty severe one,” Forde said.

“I know it scared me a bit and we sort of got around him but we got a long flight tomorrow. That’s only going to make it worse, we have a yoga day on Tuesday, on court Wednesday and Friday before we fly out again, so we’re going to manage Keanu with the idea we can do nothing but flush that corky out so he’s ready for a double-header next week.”

Cairns guard Shannon Scott scored 16 points and had six assists against the JackJumpers, and he saved some praise for the Adelaide 36ers post-game, saying their performance against the Suns helped motivate the Taipans.

“I think what Adelaide did today puts the world on notice with what the Australian NBL does … they showed we have a lot of places that can really ball,” Scott said.

“I think that motivated every single guy in this league that we can go anywhere, play and be good, and it shows how competitive this league really is.

“I think Adelaide really motivated a lot of guys to just play, compete and let the world know this is a great league.”