Snake Eyes – Taipans v Hawks

It was a stunning opening to the 2021 NBL season from the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans on Saturday and now the Snakes look to back it up against a Hawks team also coming off a winning start.

It was quite the way for the Taipans to open up the new season on Saturday night at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena. It was a game that went down to the wire but it was the Snakes who ended up prevailing 87-86 in a thrilling finish against last year's Grand Finalists, the Sydney Kings.

Now it's back to the pop-up on Monday night with the Taipans hosting the wooden spooners of a season ago, but this is a dramatically new-look Hawks team and with Brian Goorjian at the helm, there's no one who will be taking them lightly.

Both the Taipans and Hawks had a winning start to their seasons on Saturday ahead of now backing up for what is a tantalising match up at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena on Monday evening, with tip-off set for 6.30pm local time.

To get yourself ready, here are the five things to look out for:

1. TAIPANS LOOK TO BACK UP FROM SATURDAY NIGHT
Coach Mike Kelly saw plenty to work on but doing that after a win is always better as the Taipans look to make it two-from-two to open the 2021 season

It took until the final minutes for the Cairns Taipans to work their way in front of the Sydney Kings, but it was never going to be easy against the Grand Finalists of last season.

But the Taipans beat the Kings 87-86 and there was a lot to like from the performance including the shooting of 40 per cent as a team from three-point range while winning the rebound count by seven including 14 offensive boards for 18 second chance points.

The defence was also imposing with the eight blocked shots as a team with six of those credited to Cam Oliver who has every reason to now be the early favourite to win the first ever Damian Martin Best Defensive Player award.

With all five starters from the Taipans scoring in double figures and then another five players off the bench scoring too and combining for 18 points, it was a performance with plenty to like especially considering it was the first of the new season against strong opposition.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly did like a lot of what he saw too, but saw areas of improvement as well and will look to see an even better performance now on Monday against The Hawks.

"We will review this game and just go at the things that are going to help us play better as a team," Kelly said.

"We definitely will be focusing on The Hawks and watch their game, and take what we can from it. But we need to be better on defence, we need to stop transition and do those things that we didn’t do well in this first game. Hopefully that will stand us in good stead on Monday."

2. CHANCE TO MAINTAIN CAIRNS AS A FORTRESS
Cairns has not lost a home game now for a long time, has never lost at the pop-up and they will look to continue that come Monday 

The Cairns Taipans have never won more than nine consecutive home matches and now they have the chance to equal that streak with a win on Monday night against The Hawks.

The Taipans won the opening nine games of the 2010/11 season and they ended up reaching the Grand Final by the end of that campaign, but that nine-game winning streak at Cairns Convention Centre is the best in club history.

The Snakes now have the chance to equal that on the back of winning the last seven games of the 2019/20 season in Cairns including a Game 2 semi-final win against the Perth Wildcats.

They then turned that into an eight-game winning run in Cairns with a victory on Saturday against the Sydney Kings at the Pop-Up Arena. 

Now it's a chance to equal that club record of the home winning streak on Monday which would in turn set up a chance to create history on Saturday night again against Sydney.

Kouat Noi is without doubt a crowd favourite for the Orange Army, and was pumped to play and win in front of the home fans again, and now can't wait to do it again.

"This is great to get to play in front of our fans again," Noi said. 

"The crowd was loud out there and we made some plays at the end which got us going, and it was good to see everybody there and it was great to get the win also."

3. HAWKS LOOKING TO EMULATE SNAKES OF A SEASON AGO
The Hawks were wooden spooners last season but they only need to look to the Taipans for inspiration as to how quickly things can turnaround

If The Hawks need any reassurance that they can turn things around quickly despite having finished in bottom place on the NBL ladder a season ago, they only have to look to the Cairns Taipans.

The Taipans finished last in 2019 but then turned things around dramatically last season, and in the end were only one win away from reaching the Grand Final and ultimately three wins away from winning the championship given how things panned out.

The Taipans won just six games two seasons ago but went on to record 16 victories last season and that 10-win improvement was the biggest rise from season to season in the history of the club.

The Hawks did finish with the wooden spoon a season ago and just won five games. There's every chance if they improve with 10 more wins this season like Cairns did, then they will take part in the finals in 2021 as well.

The Hawks got off to a winning start on Saturday night in Brisbane beating the Bullets and it was on the back of having made the most changes to their roster of any club in the league for 2021.

The Hawks do welcome back AJ Ogilvy, Emmett Naar and Sam Froling, but have added Tyler Harvey, Justin Simon, Justinian Jessup, Deng Adel, Cam Bairstow, Max Darling, Deng Deng, Max Darling and head coach Brian Goorjian.

In contrast, the Taipans are the most stable group with the arrivals of Mojave King and Jordan Ngatai, and departures of DJ Newbill and Anthony Fisher. 

Given the Snakes finished so close to a Grand Final, that stability is key but coming off a wooden spoon, changes were needed at the Hawks and it all sets up a tantalising early season match up.

4. COACHES REUNITE ALBEIT AS OPPONENTS
Mike Kelly and Brian Goorjian have a long history together but on Monday they go head to head as opposition coaches for the first time

Mike Kelly and Brian Goorjian have a remarkable history together but on Monday night they will lock horns as opposition head coaches for the first ever time.

Kelly's finest years as a player came under Goorjian with the South East Melbourne Magic between 1994 and 1999. 

All up, Kelly played 137 games in the NBL coached by Goorjian and that included them celebrating the 1996 championship together which also saw Kelly take out the Grand Final MVP award. 

On top of that, Kelly was Best Defensive Player for seasons 1997 and 1998 so the relationship they had as player and coach was a remarkable one, including the fact they were now Americans now calling Australia home.

There are a few more interesting tidbits surrounding the pair entering Monday's game too.

Kelly's career finished with him playing at The Hawks and his final ever NBL appearance just happened to be against the Goorjian-coached Sydney Kings.

Monday's game will also be the first time ever in NBL history that two coaches go head to head having won the league's Coach of the Year award in their last season coaching.

Kelly is the reigning Coach of the Year on the back of the remarkable job he did to get the Taipans within one win of the Grand Final in 2020 while Goorjian won the award back in 2009 when he led the South Dragons to the championship.

There's no doubt that Kelly and Goorjian will enjoy reuniting away from the court, but once the bright lights are turned on come Monday they will be desperate to get that first win as coaches against one another.

5. ANOTHER SALIVATING NEXT STAR MATCH UP
Mojave King made an impressive debut as the first ever Next Star for the Cairns Taipans and he comes up another player in the program on Monday

Mojave King made an impressive NBL debut as the first ever Next Star signing for the Cairns Taipans on Saturday night, and he did that while a fellow member of the program Didi Louzada was playing in the same game for the Sydney Kings.

Now King will play the second game of his NBL career on Monday night against a Hawks team that features their own Next Star, Justinian Jessup.

King ended up playing just over 14 minutes in his NBL debut for the Taipans in the win over the Kings on Saturday and showed encouraging signs with seven points and three rebounds while also knocking down a critical three-pointer.

Jessup also made his debut for The Hawks in the win over the Bullets in Brisbane on Saturday. He finished with five points and four rebounds also knocking down one of this three-point attempts.

Both players have their eyes on entering the NBA on the back of their time here as part of the Next Stars program in the NBL, and there's no doubt they'll see some time matched up on one another in Cairns on Monday and it's yet another fascinating aspect of the game ahead.