Snake Eyes – Taipans v Bullets
The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans will be hoping hitting the road for the first time this NBL season brings about a change in luck when they play the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday.
The Taipans opened the 2021 NBL season with five matches at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena and all against challenging opponents, the Grand Finalists of last season the Sydney Kings, this season's championship favourites Melbourne United and the undefeated Hawks.
While the Snakes love playing at home in front of the Orange Army, they will be looking for a change in fortunes when playing their first road game of 2021 against the Bullets in Brisbane on Saturday.
The Taipans then have a week in between before hosting the Bullets back at the pop-up next Saturday night. After such a hectic schedule, that week's gap between games will be welcomed but it will be so much easier to get through if it's on the back of a victory.
Here are five key things to keep an eye out for:
1. SNAKES LOOK TO BECOME ROAD WARRIORS
The home stand didn’t quite go to plan but the Taipans now look to show what they are capable of in their first road game of #NBL21
Every team in the NBL so far this season has either played all their matches at home or on the road, but the Cairns Taipans become the first team to be both at home and away when they take on the Brisbane Bullets at Nissan Arena on Saturday.
The Snakes will then attempt to become the first team to win both on their home floor and on the road in #NBL21 when they take on the Bullets.
The Taipans started the 2021 NBL season with five matches at home at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena. It began with a thrilling one-point win over the Sydney Kings but two days later was a 16-point defeat against the Hawks.
Five days later and it was an eight-point loss in a rematch with Sydney before on Monday night it was a two-point loss at the hands of Melbourne United despite a spirited fightback and impressive second half from the Snakes.
Any momentum from that Melbourne performance was gone by the end of Thursday's game against the Hawks which resulted with a 20-point defeat.
But having to jump on a plane to head down to Brisbane on a short turnaround to take on the Bullets might just be the tonic this Taipans team needs to spark them into action.
Come home with a win over the Bullets and there's a week to then prepare for two more home games against Brisbane and the New Zealand Breakers, and doing so after a win would be some nice momentum to bring back in front of the Orange Army.
2. NO POINT RESORTING TO PANIC FOR TAIPANS
Panic is something the Taipans will be leaving to others with coach Mike Kelly having full faith in this group turning things around
There might be those that think it's time to panic with a 1-4 record to start the new season and the four-game losing streak, but none of those will be inside the Taipans organisation.
Coach Mike Kelly, his coaching staff Jamie O'Loughlin, Brad Hill and Lennon Smartt, the entire playing group, the support staff and everyone else associated with the club were all excited for what was possible this NBL season.
That confidence is still there with the knowledge that in reality as concerning as a four-game losing streak might be, the fact remains we are only five games into a season that could very well end up consisting of something around the 36-game mark.
The Taipans started last season 2-6 before clicking into gear in remarkable fashion to finish the season with a 16-12 record. So they went into the playoffs having won 14 of 20 matches and were able to turn things around impressively.
They are likely going to have more games to make that happen this season and even though it was a missed opportunity to claim just one win from five games at home to open #NBL21, panic is only something you do if you have no answers.
Kelly isn’t short on answers as to how the Taipans can get things on track and panic is also something you only do if you feel you don't have the right personnel, and that absolutely is not how Kelly feels.
So heading into Saturday's game in Brisbane, he'll be leaving the panic for others.
"I'm getting old now and I've played with a lot of teams that were good and a lot of teams that were bad, and I've coached with a lot of teams that were good and bad," Kelly said.
"I've never seen panic help so we're not going to panic. We're going to try and get better before playing against a really good team down in Brisbane so we're not going to panic. We chose this group of players because we believe in them in both their character and their playing ability.
"So if we're panicking we chose the wrong guys and I don’t think that's the case. We're going to stick together and let people outside of our group panic for us. We are going to try and get better and try to go get those Brisbane Bullets."
3. RENEWAL OF A QUEENSLAND RIVALRY
It's been a fascinating rivalry renewed between the two teams since the Bullets returned to the NBL and the Taipans now look for a rare win in Brisbane
Saturday will present the 17th occasion that the Cairns Taipans and Brisbane Bullets have played one another since the Bullets marked their return to the NBL for the 2016/17 season.
Right now over the 16 games played between the Queensland rivals since have been split evenly with eight victories apiece, and road wins have become increasingly difficult to come by.
Mike Kelly's first ever game in charge of the Taipans ended up being an impressive 18-point win against the Bullets in Brisbane. From there the Snakes would finish last that season and the Bullets reached the finals.
But since then the Taipans have lost on their last three visits to Brisbane starting with a 31-point loss back in the 2016/17 season, and then last season there were losses to the tune of 16 and 36 points.
That was despite Cairns ending up playing in the finals and Brisbane missing out on post-season action.
The average margin of 27.6 points in those three losses is obviously significantly blown out by that unique final round game of last season with the Taipans having nothing to play for, and the Bullets knowing they had to win by at least 33 points to give themselves a chance. They won by 36.
Like the Taipans, the Bullets have played all their first three games at home so far this season starting out with two losses against the Hawks.
The Hawks are 4-0 right now and that's on the back of two wins apiece against the Bullets and Taipans.
But the Bullets got their first win on the board beating the Sydney Kings 90-87 on Tuesday and Kelly knows they'll be tough to overcome for the Snakes on Saturday.
"They're a very talented group and have a great coach," Kelly said.
"They mix it up defensively and give you different looks and pressure you different ways so we need to be ready for that and then try to be assertive and attack back when they do pressure us like that."
4. NEW FACE READY TO HELP HOWEVER HE CAN
Jordan Ngatai is one new face at the Taipans and after some encouraging signs on Thursday, he's ready to continue to step in and contribute however he can
Jordan Ngatai was always an important role player at the New Zealand Breakers and now in his first season at the Cairns Taipans, he's done enough to suggest he can help contribute in a lot of ways.
Ngatai did end up playing 58 games with the Breakers and while he didn't always get a lot of minutes, rarely would he not find a way to contribute whether it was knocking down open shots, rebounding strongly, defending well or just playing whatever role was asked of him.
He's also an established star in the NZ NBL, is a regular on the Tall Blacks team and all of that led to him being an exciting addition for the Taipans coming into #NBL21.
Ngatai did have sporadic minutes over the opening four games of his Cairns career, but he got more of an opportunity playing 12 and-a-half minutes in Thursday's loss to the Hawks and he delivered six points, two rebounds and an assist.
There was a lot to like about what he provided including hitting two three-pointers and on a night where the Taipans lost the game by 20 points, he was the only Cairns player who hit the floor and finished with a positive plus-minus.
The Taipans outscored the Hawks by four points with Ngatai on the floor and he could well have earned himself some more minutes.
Ultimately, Ngatai is just going to continue to be willing and ready to do whatever he's asked of to help contribute of the Taipans.
"It's always good to get on the scoresheet but really I was just trying to fit in defensively as well," Ngatai said.
"I don’t come in and think I need to score, I try to find ways to help my team out and I think I can still keep focusing on the defensive end by talking and doing the little simple things.
"The coaches and teammates have always been on me to stay aggressive because when I'm aggressive that helps them out so much more so I just have to keep that same mindset."
5. TURNING CORNERS NEEDS TO HAPPEN QUARTER BY QUARTER
Has the team turned a corner or not really is only something that the Taipans can measure by trying to win a quarter at a time starting Saturday in Brisbane
The term turning a corner was used in relation to the Cairns Taipans after the impressive second half they did produce against Melbourne United on Monday night to give themselves a chance at the win.
Then that turned into a good start at both ends of the floor against the Hawks on Thursday with the Taipans leading 12-6 midway through the opening quarter. Obviously things didn’t go to plan from there and any talking of turning corners was put to bed.
Taipans coach Mike Kelly doesn’t want to worry about if his team has turned a corner or not, but instead it's going to be focusing on winning a quarter at a time.
The most concerning aspect of the first five games for the Taipans is that not only have they been behind at quarter-time in all five matches, but they have only been in front on the scoreboard at the end of one of the 20 quarters – at the end of the game against the Kings in Round 1.
"There's a lot of corners in a season so talking about turning corners, we played three good quarters against Melbourne United and people talked about turning the corner," Kelly said.
"But by playing half a quarter against the Hawks means it's not really turning the corner. We just have to play good, consistent basketball and we're not doing that consistently right now.
"We'll look at this and try to help the guys get into their flow offensively, we have to be better defensively and make them go through bodies and make life difficult for them. Hopefully that will get us around the corner."
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