Round 4: Taipans v United

CQUniversity Cairns Taipans v Melbourne United, 6:30pm AEST
(John Cain Arena)

• Watch on ESPN via Kayo Sports or Foxtel
• Watch together at the Reef Hotel Casino (Official Away Game Venue)

LAST MEETING

It’s been a minute since these two sides met, and even longer since the Taipans took the win. United have won their last nine games against Cairns, and the last time the Taipans defeated Melbourne was a narrow 77-75 victory on Boxing Day in 2019.

LINE-UP

Taipans will be without Tahjere McCall (hip injury) with his return still a fortnight away. New rookie Lat Mayen entered the line-up last game but didn’t hit the court, meaning his official NBL debut could be tonight in Melbourne.

LOOK FOR

Cairns has a perfect 3-0 away record to start their season after winning in Hobart, Melbourne (against Phoenix) and Sydney. Another road win tonight will match the club's best ever start to a season which was in 2015 – the last time the Taipans were in the Grand Final.

Remarkably, last year Head Coach Adam Forde and the Taipans won just four road games across the entire season. 

LATEST WORDS

“A bit more video, a bit more content, more one-on-one time with the guys, and collectively. It’s a good problem to have because these guys want more. Sometimes my style might be intimidating, aggressive or overbearing to the unmotivated, but this is a highly motivated group. I feed off what their feedback is, and what their energy is like, and right now - more is more. They want more. So, knowing we’ve got a quick turnaround to New Zealand, where Sam Waardenburg, JD [Josh Davey] and a lot of the new guys don’t know who their starting five is, it’s important we lock into that and give them everything they need,” – Adam Forde on approaching the next double-header

“When you come off a great win on the road, everything picks up. We’ve got to keep that momentum going into our next game against Melbourne. They are a great team, and they are always tough at home. We’re just trying to go in and be ourselves and play our brand of basketball. We’ve got to keep locked into the scout. We can’t be relying on guarding them one-on-one; it’s a team defence. We’ve got to make our game,” – Majok Deng on facing Melbourne