Snake Eyes – Taipans at Hawks

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans head to Wollongong for the first time this season to take on the Illawarra Hawks already for a fourth time in #NBL21 on Sunday with the Snakes hoping a week of preparation will pay off for them.

The Taipans might have lost twice over Easter, home and away, to Melbourne United, but there was encouraging signs in both games from the Snakes up against the team now sitting on top of the NBL standings and who are still ranked as championship favourites.

Now since the second of those games in Cairns last Sunday, the Taipans have had a week to prepare to battle Brian Goorjian and his Illawarra Hawks this Sunday afternoon at WIN Entertainment Centre.

The Hawks have already played twice in Round 13 back on Wednesday and Friday nights so the Taipans will be hoping to take advantage of being the fresher team and to record a second straight win against Illawarra.

Here are five things to look out for in the contest:

1. FRESH SNAKES LOOK TO REPLICATE WIN OVER HAWKS
The Cairns Taipans beat the Illawarra Hawks in their last meeting and now will look to replicate that in Wollongong on Sunday as the fresher of the two outfits

The Cairns Taipans have already played the Illawarra Hawks three times this season with a win coming their way last up at the NBL Cup in Melbourne which they now hope they can build upon.

The teams did meet twice in Cairns early in #NBL21 and those games didn’t go the way the Snakes hoped with the Hawks recording a 92-76 win back on January 18, and backing it up with a 90-70 victory on January 28.

But the Snakes have already had the chance to turn the tide on those results by beating the Hawks with an impressive performance to win 101-95 to open the NBL Cup in Melbourne back on February 20.

There was a lot to like in that performance from the Taipans with the fight they showed to finish the game strongly. 

Not only did Scott Machado dominate with 31 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but Cam Oliver had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Mirko Djeric 16 points and six assists, Jordan Ngatai 17 points and four rebounds, and Majok Deng 13 points and seven boards.

So there was a lot to like about that performance and it always should serve as a confidence booster coming up against a team again that you played well against the last time you met them.

The Taipans now should be the fresher of the two teams too despite being the road team in Wollongong on Sunday.

The Snakes haven’t played since hosting Melbourne United in Cairns last Sunday while the Hawks lost to the Brisbane Bullets back on Wednesday night before responding with a win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday.

Even though all the games have been at home, the Hawks will still be playing a third game inside five days when Sunday's clash gets underway so that will be another factor the Taipans will be hoping works in their favour.

2. WEEK OF PREPARATION FOR THE HAWKS
The Cairns Taipans have had a week to prepare for the clash with the Illawarra Hawks on Sunday and coach Mike Kelly hopes the chance to work on some things pays dividends

There were good signs from the Cairns Taipans in the way they fought against Melbourne United over Easter, and now with a week to build on that, coach Mike Kelly hopes to see further growth.

While nobody is satisfied to ever lose games of basketball, the Taipans didn’t lose any admirers with the performance in Melbourne on Good Friday and then in Cairns on Easter Sunday against United.

United have now returned to the top of the NBL ladder and are ranked as championship favourites so beating them was never going to be easy, and while the Snakes didn’t quite manage to, the signs were encouraging for them to take forward with them.

Now after the second of those games in Sunday at the Pop-Up Arena, the Taipans have had a full week back at home in Cairns to work on some things on the training floor, to integrate new arrival Hyrum Harris into the group and to prepare to play the Illawarra Hawks this Sunday in Wollongong.

The Hawks have had the opposite preparation having had games against the Bullets on Wednesday and Phoenix on Friday to focus on so the Taipans will be hoping having had a full week to prepare and get ready to take on Illawarra will end up paying off for them during the game.

"I think it's good to get on the practice floor some and be at home for a little while, but you also like to keep playing so you can expel the demons from losing games," Kelly said. 

"We're on the verge of playing a good basketball game, we've played some good quarters but haven’t put it together consistently to be a 40-minute team. 

"I think it's good to be on the practice floor to continue to work on our execution and ability to finish plays. I don’t think it's a bad thing and you just do what you're told so we'll take it and just get ready to go to Wollongong."

3. IMPRESSIVE SHOOTING FORM
Jordan Ngatai and Mirko Djeric were on fire last up for the Taipans shooting and will be looking to take that momentum with them into Wollongong on Sunday

With Jordan Ngatai and Mirko Djeric highlighting it on Sunday, the Cairns Taipans shot the ball well over Easter and will look to continue that in Wollongong this Sunday against the Illawarra Hawks.

Going back to the Good Friday clash with Melbourne United on the road, and the Taipans shot the ball quite well going at 44 per cent as a team from the floor and 14/35 at 40 per cent from three-point territory.

Ngatai was the standout with 17 points on the back of hitting 4/6 from beyond the arc while Jarrod Kenny caught fire too for 4/7 from deep for 12 points and Fabijan Krslovic went 2/4 from downtown for six points. Closer to the rim, Nate Jawai shot 6/8 for 13 points too.

Then backing that up on Easter Sunday at home, the Taipans didn’t quite go as well as a team but Ngatai backed up his performance by hitting 5/7 from deep for 15 points.

Mirko Djeric shook off his 0/4 night on Friday by responded well too going 4/7 from three-point range on Sunday to score 13 points for the Taipans.

For Ngatai and Djeric to combine for 28 points on the back of going at 9/14 from three-point range on Sunday was something coach Mike Kelly would be delighted to now see more of moving forward.

"It was great to see those guys take their shots and make their shots," Kelly said. 

"The last two games we've shot well as a team and Ngatai has shot well in both those games. Mirko is always one shot away from being hot so it was great to see him come out and take those shots, and make them."

4. HAPPY TO PLAY WHATEVER ROLE IS ASKED
It's the ultimate sign of a team man to be able to take it on the chin when asked to come off the bench after being a regular starter, and the way Mirko Djeric responded was impressive

Mirko Djeric is one of the leaders at the Cairns Taipans and if anyone is likely to bounce back from a rough game, it's him and he took pride in doing that last Sunday.

Djeric had a tough game back on Good Friday in Melbourne going scoreless in 21 minutes on 0/4 shooting from the field. As a result, he lost his starting position for the return game on Easter Sunday in Cairns against United.

However, as soon as he hit the floor he was ready to make amends to his teammates and he took pride in doing so. He ended up delivering 13 points, five rebounds and two assists in 24 minutes of court time while knocking down 4/7 from his three-point attempts.

Djeric was glad to have had a quick turnaround from Friday to Sunday to give the chance to make amends, and he took pride in being able to make a significantly better contribution for the Taipans which he now hopes to build on moving forward.

"It doesn't matter really, whatever Mike decides. He is the coach and if he wants to start me or bring me off the bench, it doesn’t matter, I have to be ready to play at all times," Djeric said.

"I played poorly the game before and I want to repay the boys for that, but it's still unfortunate I couldn’t do enough to stop us losing. I feel like it's a good thing when you have a game right around the corner so you don't have to think about it for too long.

"You just try to sleep it off, recover, do everything right and then come into Shootaround, get a feel for the ball and you move on and don't dwell on anything. That's what we have to do now as a team. We can't dwell on these losses, we have to focus on moving forward."

5. HAWKS COME IN ON A HIGH
The Illawarra Hawks needed a win on Friday and came from 17 points down to the South East Melbourne Phoenix to get it coming into hosting the Taipans on Sunday

The Illawarra Hawks looked to be in a bit of trouble after losing to the Brisbane Bullets on Wednesday, but all of a sudden after a win on Friday they will be feeling good about themselves coming into Sunday's game against the Cairns Taipans.

Having started the season under legendary coach Brian Goorjian on fire with four straight wins in Queensland, including two over the Taipans in Cairns, it has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the Hawks this season.

And after losing at home to the shorthanded Bullets on Wednesday night, Illawarra had lost three straight games and five of six to be at a point where had they not responded on Friday, things might have been in freefall.

It was a big challenge too up against an on-fire Phoenix outfit but the Hawks showed impressive heart to grit out the important victory to steady their season at an 11-11 record coming into hosting the Taipans back in Wollongong on Sunday.

Hawks power forward Sam Froling not only realised what an important win it was for his team, but felt it was the type of performance they can now really build some momentum on the back of.

"By far it's probably the best game I've played in in the NBL thus far," Froling said.

"We deserve this one and we knew we had to come out as a team to show Goorj that we had the fight in us and everyone came out and did that, and left it out on the floor. I'm pretty proud of the effort from all the fellas."