Snake Eyes – Taipans at Breakers

The final game of the #NBL21 season for the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans received a surprise curve ball after Monday's match as the Snakes now prepare to take on the New Zealand Breakers in Rotorua.

The Taipans received a surprise one last home game at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena back on Friday night leading to a stunning win to farewell the home fans with for the season against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

The surprises didn’t end there with the announcement made following Monday night's loss in Sydney to Melbourne United that reigning NBL Coach of the Year Mike Kelly won't be continuing on at the helm beyond this season.

That now means that Wednesday's game for the Taipans against the Breakers in Rotorua will not only be the last of the season for the Snakes, but it will be the last for Kelly to be in charge of as his three-year tenure as head coach comes to an end.

There sure is plenty to look forward to in this last game of the season for the Taipans, and here are five of them:

1. SHOCK ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE TOP
It caught everybody off guard on Monday night when straight after the game the Taipans announced they were parting company with Mike Kelly, and now what impact that has on Wednesday's match is anyone's guess

A significant curve was thrown into the mix of this final game of the season for the Snakes when the club shocked the NBL world with the announcement directly after Monday's game against Melbourne United in Sydney that reigning NBL Coach of the Year Mike Kelly would not be continuing on beyond this season.

That means that after doing a phenomenal job of getting the Taipans to within one game of a Grand Final little over 12 months ago, Wednesday night in Rotorua will be the final match in charge after three seasons of the Taipans for Kelly.

How the Taipans players react to that news ahead of their final match is anyone's guess, but if anyone knows Kelly and the proud and committed man that he's been whether as a championship winning player, assistant coach to now Coach of the Year, he'll be doing nothing but giving his all for this game and will be expecting nothing less from the players out on the court.

2. MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG PLAYERS
The opportunities are going to be there once again for the nine available Cairns Taipans players to give their all, and show what they are fully capable of one last time this season

The Cairns Taipans might have only had nine available players on Monday night and it will be a similar story on Wednesday against the Breakers, but it can be amazing what players can do with opportunities.

With five key, important and quality players missing late in the season for the Taipans, that meant that there were nine players able to suit up on Monday against Melbourne and it will be the same nine going into battle in Rotorua on Wednesday.

Nate Jawai, Majok Deng, Jordan Ngatai, Mirko Djeric and Scott Machado were the starting five for the Snakes with them ably backed up by Tad Dufelmeier, Jarrod Kenny, George Blagojevic and Jordan Hunt.

All nine players from the Taipans hit the court for at least 10 minutes, all fought hard and made a contribution, and coach Mike Kelly is expecting nothing but of the same from them against the Breakers.

"I think those minutes that the guys have gotten throughout the season especially this second half of the season, the young players Mojave, Tad, George and now Jordan Hunt have stepped up and played really well," Kelly said. 

"It's just good to see that they are ready and against Melbourne United who are the best opposition that you can go up against."

3. CAN'T HIDE HOW MUCH THOSE MISSING ARE MISSED
When you consider the Taipans are missing a full starting five of quality, capable players as the #NBL21 season comes to a close, there's no hiding from what sort of an impact their absence has

While never using it as an excuses for the players that are available to fight and give their all, be competitive and throw everything into trying to win, it's quite the impressive group of players the Taipans are missing right now.

It would make up quite the impressive starting five if you put together Cam Oliver, Fabijan Krslovic, Venky Jois, Kouat Noi and Mojave King.

In fact those five players combined are averaging 54.6 points and 24.4 rebounds between them in the games they have played for the Taipans during the 2021 NBL season.

So it's just pure facts that they are going to be sorely missed and especially against a deep, league-leading team like the Taipans faced on Monday night in Sydney with Melbourne United.

But coach Mike Kelly will just ask the players he does have available to fight and give their all, but it's just a reality the calibre of players he doesn’t have available.

"It's just tough when you are missing players so it's really about that depth, and players that have great experience at this level and you miss those guys who shoot the ball well, rebound the ball well, defend and then just give you more legs," Kelly said.

"All of those things add up but it's also a great opportunity for some guys while making it hard to win against very good teams in the NBL without your whole crew.

"I think we battled in this game and we had our finger in a hole, but there ended up being too many holes to plug. I'd love to see us get the momentum going now in this last game and play four great quarters, and defend for four quarters and have some sort of offensive consistency for four quarters. 

"That's what I would love to see for this group and then just continue that fight for the whole four quarters."

4. OPPORTUNITIES ARE ALL THE RESERVES CRAVE
Whether you deep down on the rotation or a development player, all the work you put into an NBL season is geared towards hoping a chance comes your way and the wait has been worth it for Jordan Hunt

There's no question that young Cairns Taipans big Jordan Hunt has an exciting future and that he has also benefited greatly from making the move from home in New Zealand to spent this season with the Snakes as a development player.

And like any development player, Hunt has put in a power of work this whole season on the training floor and in the gym to make sure he's ready for any opportunity that's coming his way, and now it's happening late in the season.

He looked right at home on the floor against Melbourne United in Sydney on Monday night as well playing almost 12 minutes and finishing with five minutes and two rebounds including knocking down a three-pointer.

Hunt is grateful for that opportunity and is hoping for more of the same on Wednesday against the Breakers.

"It's obviously good to get out there with the boys and against a tough team like Melbourne, that's a really good challenge. I'm just out there trying to play as hard as I can to see what I can do to help the team," Hunt said.

"Playing against Melbourne with the quality of their team and the depth that they have, it's really awesome to just go up against those quality players and I've been waiting the whole season just to play. It has been good just keeping ready for a chance like this."

5. HOMECOMING TO CLOSE THE SEASON
A first trip to New Zealand of the season for the Taipans means it's somewhat of a homecoming for the Kiwis in the team – Jarrod Kenny, Jordan Ngatai and Jordan Hunt

The New Zealand Breakers are finishing their gruelling season with six home matches back home in New Zealand, but Wednesday's game is a significant one for a host of locals in the Cairns Taipans team too.

After losing Grand Finals to the Breakers in New Zealand in 2011 and 2015, heading across the ditch isn’t always high on the list of priorities for a Cairns Taipans team, but for this current group there are three players looking forward to Wednesday that little bit more.

Thanks to COVID-19 closing the international borders, the Taipans contingent from New Zealand haven’t been able to get back home since joining the Snakes for pre-season late in 2020.

So for development player Jordan Hunt and veterans Jarrod Kenny and Jordan Ngatai, it's going to be a special occasion on Wednesday night to play against the Breakers in Rotorua.

And for Hunt, he's already packed up from Cairns and is going to go straight into his NZ NBL season following Wednesday night's game for the Taipans.

"I've learned heaps this season. Going up against guys like Nate and Cam every day, and learning from them and all of their different little vet moves that they do," Hunt said.

"Then with guys like Scott as well you learn from their experience as well and they're just showing me all the things that it takes to play at this level. It has been awesome.

"Last time I was home was before the season started and came over to Cairns so that was around November, December last year. Getting to go home now is really nice, I get to play in New Zealand and then I'll go straight into the NZ NBL which is obviously really good timing for me. 

"I'm just looking forward to that. I've packed up all my bags before this road trip and now I'll be staying in New Zealand after the Breakers game."