Snake Eyes – Taipans at Wildcats

The NBL Cup is now over but the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans resume the regular NBL season with two challenging road trips beginning on Friday night against the Perth Wildcats.

Following the four weeks in Melbourne at the NBL Cup, the Taipans remain on the road for another week for road games in Perth and Sydney this weekend in Round 10 of the season.

It gets underway on Friday night against the defending champion Wildcats at RAC Arena. It's the first time the teams have met in the building since Game 3 of the semi-final series last year and it's just their second meeting of #NBL21 after they did lock horns during the NBL Cup.

The Taipans got their season beginning to roll with a win after a slow start in Perth last season. The talent remains in the Snakes group to do something similar this Friday night even if it is against a Wildcats opponent who has won the last two NBL championships and is fresh off claiming the NBL Cup.

There's plenty to look out for in Friday's clash as there is anytime the Snakes and Wildcats do battle, and here's five things to get you warmed up for the contest:

1. ANOTHER CHANCE TO HIT BACK ON WILDCATS
The Taipans and Wildcats have developed a healthy rivalry and that was just about at fever pitch last season with a cracking semi-final battle with Friday a chance for Cairns to get one back

The Cairns Taipans and Perth Wildcats have developed quite the nice rivalry over the past couple of decades, and they do battle in Perth for the first time on Friday night since last year's semi-final series.

That three-game battle to determine who would go into the Grand Final of 2020 proved to be a fascinating battle, and the Taipans certainly made the Wildcats earn everything. 

But in the end Perth prevailed in that Game 3 at RAC Arena before going on to win two of the three Grand Final matches against the Sydney Kings before being awarded the championship when COVID-19 forced the early end of the series.

It's a rivalry that dates back much further though. Their first post-season meeting took place in 2004 and it was the Taipans beating the Wildcats in a knockout quarter-final battle with Anthony Stewart delivering 30 points and Marcus Timmons 22 in a 103-96 win at Cairns Convention Centre.

It was the same occasion three years later with a quarter-final match up in 2007 only this time it was held at Perth's Challenge Stadium. It was the same result, though, with Alan Black coaching the Taipans to the 82-78 victory on the back of big performances from Anthony Stewart and Martin Cattalini.

It wouldn’t be until 2015 when they next met in the playoffs and this was a semi-final battle with the Taipans prevailing 2-0 on the way to a Grand Final appearance.

So the Snakes had won the first four finals meetings between the two clubs but that changed in 2017 when the Wildcats beat the Taipans in two straight games of the semi-final series in what turned out to be the end of the career Mark Worthington.

Then back in 2020, they met in the semi finals again and this time after Cairns and Perth won a game each on their home floors, the Wildcats prevailed in Game 3 at RAC Arena.

The teams have now met just the once so far this season and that was in Melbourne at the NBL Cup with Perth beating Cairns 89-69 on the back of a dominant second half.

But even going back to last season, the Taipans started off losing their opening three games before coming out in Perth and handing the Wildcats their biggest ever defeat at RAC Arena with the 99-76 triumph.

That ended up being the spark to see the Snakes join the Wildcats in the playoffs, so as they now begin life beyond the NBL Cup this season, a win in Perth on Friday night would be just the tonic and they have a history of it happening before to call upon.

2. GREAT ENERGY HAS TO BE BENCHMARK 
Taipans coach Mike Kelly likes when his team plays with great energy, but he believes that should come naturally and shouldn’t need to be questioned for any game

Coming out with the desired energy should be a non-negotiable but Cairns Taipans coach Mike Kelly hasn’t always seen that so far this season, and he knows it has to be there if they are to get things back on track.

This ultimately is a wins and losses business and the Taipans went into the NBL Cup with a 2-6 record with seven of those opening eight games having been played at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena.

The Snakes then played every opposition team in Melbourne and added another 2-6 record during the NBL Cup to now be recommencing the regular season with a 4-12 record.

Now given it is a 36-game season that means there's plenty of time for the Taipans to turn things around and with 20 more wins available to them, it's far from time to give up on any finals aspirations.

But Kelly knows his team can kiss goodbye to any of those hopes unless they come out with the desired energy levels every single game and can maintain it for as close to the full 40 minutes as possible.

It should be a non-negotiable but it's something that Kelly has noticed has become a hit and miss commodity this season so far. 

He was happier with the energy they showed in their last game at the NBL Cup on Friday at the South East Melbourne Phoenix, and now hopes to see more of it as something that can relied upon rather than celebrated when it's there.

"I expect great energy from the guys and when it's not there from each of them it's a huge disappointment. We're playing to win games and the energy shouldn’t even be a thought," Kelly said.

"So I expect that energy from them and I'm happy when it's there, but energy comes first and then you have to play good basketball as well. For a good portion of the night we played really hard, but not great basketball and that kept us in it."

3. PLAYING GOOD, CONSISTENT BASKETBALL NEXT STEP
If that energy is going to be able to counted on moving forward, then the next step for coach Mike Kelly is for the Taipans to deliver consistently good basketball

So provided the Cairns Taipans can now come out with those desired energy levels on a consistent basis, the next step is for coach Mike Kelly to see them playing the good, consistent basketball that he has been craving.

On paper, even with Majok Deng still sidelined, it's a Taipans group capable of plenty. Scott Machado is among the best guards in the league, Cam Oliver is one of the best bigs and combined they are still one of the more outstanding import combinations.

Then you have the shooting and enthusiasm of Mirko Djeric, the continued growth of Fabijan Krslovic, the natural talents of Kouat Noi, the physical presence of Nate Jawai, the all-round abilities of Jordan Ngatai, the experience and tenacity of Jarrod Kenny, and the pure excitement of Mojave King.

All of that is enough to be the makings of a strong performing team and that's why Kelly remains so confident of things clicking when the group gets it all together.

He would have hoped to see that happen earlier than now, but the fact is there is still plenty of time for the Snakes to get things right and as far as Kelly is concerned, there's no better time than this week starting on Friday night in Perth against the Wildcats.

"I think we can win our next game. I thought coming into that last game we had a good shot of winning it, and right now that has to be the focus for us to play with that great energy, but executing and playing good basketball as a group," Kelly said. 

"We have to continue to get better as the season goes on and anything can happen then if you start winning games. The belief and confidence is there, and things fall your way and you get a little streak going. I'm silly enough to think that stuff is going to start happening this week coming up."

4. TURNOVERS NOT TO TOLERATED FROM STARS
It's tough to argue that Scott Machado and Cam Oliver aren’t giving plenty to the cause for the Taipans, but coach Mike Kelly wants to see fewer turnovers out of them

Cam Oliver and Scott Machado put in big individual performances last Friday to give the Cairns Taipans a sniff against the South East Melbourne Phoenix, but coach Mike Kelly was concerned in one aspect.

On face value there was a lot to like about what Machado and Oliver provided. Machado finished with 24 points, five rebounds and three assists on 9/15 shooting from the field, 3/4 from three-point range and 3/3 from the foul line.

Oliver also contributed 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists on 8/11 shooting from the floor, 3/3 from downtown and 3/4 from the foul line.

So as a duo, they delivered 46 points, 12 rebounds and five assists on a combined shooting of 17/28 from the field, 6/7 from deep and 6/7 at the charity stripe.

It's hard to see much wrong with what they delivered, but there was one area of frustration for coach Kelly and that was the seven turnovers Machado had and the five that Oliver had.

For his two stars to combine for 12 turnovers and his team having 21 for the game meant that Kelly knew that it was a significant factor in decided the game in the favour of the Phoenix in the finish.

The Snakes actually did well to limit the damage and only concede 12 points from those 21 turnovers, but it was a big reason in why they had nine fewer field goal attempts and eight less free-throws in the game.

It's hard to win a game of basketball if you lose the possession battle, and Kelly knows that it's his superstars who have to set the tone moving forward in taking better care of the ball if they are to start stringing some strong performances together.

"I thought the energy that they brought was great but these two are leaders on our team and for them to combine for 12 turnovers, we won't win like that," Kelly said.

"The energy is like that but we go how Cam goes, we go our Scott goes and when they play with great energy their skills are amazing. 

"They then need to play great basketball as well and that includes taking care of the ball, talking on defence and rebounding the ball. When those two are leading like that, we'll get wins."

5. WILDCATS CAUTIOUS OF TAIPANS TALENTS
The Perth Wildcats might have few concerns coming into Friday's game after winning the NBL Cup but coach Trevor Gleeson won't be taking the Taipans for granted

After the tremendous battles the Perth Wildcats had against Cairns last season, and given the strong first half contest they had at the NBL Cup, coach Trevor Gleeson won't be taking the Taipans for granted on Friday night.

You could excuse the Wildcats if they ever do rest on their laurels. After all, it's a club that has now played in 34 consecutive NBL finals campaigns and has won 10 championships in that time including the last two as they chase a three-peat in 2021.

Not yet sick of winning, they won the NBL Cup in Melbourne having won seven of the eight matches over the past month as they now return home to play in front of their raucous home fans on Friday night against the Taipans at RAC Arena.

When you factor in Perth has won three straight games to close the NBL Cup and went 7-1 in Melbourne while Cairns lost its last three matches and went 2-6 over the past month, you could understand some complacency from the Wildcats.

But you don't win five championships in the seven previous seasons that Gleeson has been coach without having high standards and no complacency, so there's no way they'll be taking the Snakes lightly this Friday night.

"They're super talented. Any team with Machado and Oliver and a lot of really good shooters will be dangerous. It's going to test our defence again and hopefully our defence will stand up against them," Gleeson said. 

"I've just looked at the scout and I know what they're capable of, we saw that last year. We know how talented their imports and role players are, but we're just worrying about ourselves and continuing to play the right way. Usually when you do that good things happen."