Snake Eyes – Taipans v Phoenix NBL Cup

The Cairns Taipans fought back valiantly before losing on the buzzer on Wednesday leaving the Snakes hungry and determined to leave the NBL Cup on a high against the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday night.

The Snakes found themselves in a big hole against the New Zealand Breakers back on Wednesday night but they fought back strongly with an impressive second half. 

But then just as it appeared the game would be heading to overtime, Tom Abercrombie broke their hearts with the three-point bomb on the back of collecting the offensive rebound.

It wasn’t as if the Taipans needed any added motivation coming into Friday's last game at the NBL Cup, but just in case it was required then there's no doubt that finish on Wednesday will provide exactly that.

It presents the Snakes with a chance to finish the NBL Cup on a high note and build some momentum to take into the rest of the season.

And now ahead of the first meeting with the Phoenix this season, here are five things to look ahead to:

1. LET'S FINISH NBL CUP ON A HIGH
Friday night against the South East Melbourne Phoenix provides the opportunity for the Taipans to finish this month in Melbourne at the NBL Cup on a high

It hasn’t quite been the NBL Cup that the Cairns Taipans were hoping for, but it would be just the boost to take into the rest of the season if they can produce a strong performance against the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday night.

The Taipans arrived in Melbourne with a 2-6 record from the first five rounds of the NBL season but they had won their last home game against the New Zealand Breakers.

They backed that up beginning the NBL Cup with a win against the Illawarra Hawks but then things began to get tough. There was a narrow loss to Melbourne United followed up by consecutive 20-point losses to the Perth Wildcats and Brisbane Bullets.

But last Thursday the Snakes were able to bounce back to score an impressive 96-92 win against the Sydney Kings on the back of a season-best performance from Nate Jawai and career-best showing from Fabijan Krslovic.

Cairns couldn’t quite keep the momentum going, though, with a loss on Saturday night to the Adelaide 36ers and then a disappointing start against the New Zealand Breakers on Wednesday. 

The Snakes found themselves down 19 points early in the third quarter but hit back from there to have a chance of snatching the win, or forcing overtime.

Now Friday night presents a chance to finish the time in Melbourne at the NBL Cup on a high with the first clash against the Phoenix for the season.

The Phoenix might have the home court and crowd advantage, but Cairns will come out hungry to finish with a third win at the NBL Cup and that would allow them to hit the rest of the season with some momentum and positivity.

2. BUILD ON SECOND HALF MOMENTUM
The second half performance against the New Zealand Breakers was impressive and Taipans coach Mike Kelly hopes they can now continue that on Friday

Despite the way Wednesday's game finished on the buzzer, the Cairns Taipans should feel good about that second half performance to give them some momentum to take into Friday.

It was tough going in the first half on Wednesday night for the Taipans against the New Zealand Breakers. The Breakers opened up a 13-5 lead early and went on to be up 24-11 by quarter-time, and then to still be leading 46-32 by half-time.

It was a first half to forget for the Snakes as they shot just 31 per cent from the field and hit 2/13 from beyond the arc with Mirko Djeric, Kouat Noi and Nate Jawai among the players yet to hit the scoresheet.

The second half then didn’t start much better with seven straight New Zealand points seeing the lead grow to 19 points, but that's when the Taipans took a stand and began to turn things around.

By three quarter-time the Taipans were back within eight points of the Breakers and then all of a sudden when Mirko Djeric drained a three in the fourth quarter, it was just a two-point ball game.

Scott Machado then hit a three soon after to make it a one-point margin and then soon after that he levelled the scores. Rasmus Bach from New Zealand and Djeric then traded threes and it appeared the game was going to overtime until the Tom Abercrombie buzzer-beating bomb.

The finish wasn’t ideal. But most of the way the Taipans played in those last 18 minutes was pretty close to how coach Mike Kelly wants to see them play.

He just wants to see it for a whole 40 minutes and he hopes he sees something closer to that on Friday night against the Phoenix.

"It was super frustrating that we would let ourselves come out and play like that in the first half. The Breakers did a good job of helping us be indecisive and then we helped them with their defence as well by being super indecisive," Kelly said. 

"To see the guys play so well in the second half and be in attack mode at both ends, while it was great, it was such a huge deficit that it was frustrating to know that had we started in an assertive manner we had a better shot at winning the game."

3. EXCITING SIGNS FROM THE NEXT STAR
Mojave King has now strung together two impressive performances the last two games and there's no reason to not expect him to be able to keep it rolling

There was great hype around the signing by the Cairns Taipans of their first Next Star in Mojave King, and now that he has strung good performances together, coach Mike Kelly is expecting him to continue on with that form.

There has been plenty of talk from a number of sources about the playing time King has or hasn’t received this season with the Taipans, but the fact remains all decisions are made in the best interests of helping the team have the best chances of winning basketball games.

And the way King came out aggressive to hit two three-pointers quickly late in the first quarter against the Adelaide 36ers last Saturday set the tone. He hit another early in the second term and finished the game with an impressive drive and dunk.

Those minutes he played meant he deserved more opportunity against the New Zealand Breakers on Wednesday, and he made the most of them once again finishing with 12 points, five rebounds, two steals and an assist while playing 20 minutes.

Perhaps most impressive about King's performance was how aggressive he was. He didn’t settle for the outside shots and that attack on the basket saw him draw four fouls and get to the line for five free-throw attempts.

It was another impressive performance and one that will certainly provide King with continued opportunities starting Friday against the Phoenix with coach Mike Kelly impressed with what he is seeing.

"I have high praise for Mojave. He has stuck with everything whether he's played a few minutes or like in this game played 20 minutes," Kelly said.

"For me it was hard to take him off the floor and I love it when a player makes it really tough for me to sub for him, and when he did come out he came right back in. 

"He earned all those minutes and did it on both ends. It wasn’t the frilly stuff or the filler stuff, he was defending and making guys go through his chest, and really getting up and going after shots without fouling. 

"He just did a great job on both ends and was ready to attack on the offensive end as well. Now I'll expect it every night and I know Mojave expects it, and I also have high expectations. I think it's going to be something that will come consistently for him the more he has experience playing at this level."

4. SPACE CAM PROVIDING MORE ENERGY
We all know how good Cam Oliver can be and his passion and enthusiasm is infectious, and he provided plenty of energy on Wednesday and needs to continue to do so

Cam Oliver so often sets the tone for the Cairns Taipans and he was infectious in the way he sparked the comeback against the New Zealand Breakers on Wednesday night.

When Oliver is playing with great energy, when he's throwing down the dunks, when he's attacking the basket and also switched on defensively being a defensive intimidator and strong rebounder, there's really no other player like him in the league.

When he is up and about with his confidence and passion and body language, he makes all his Taipans teammates walk that little bit taller too.

Now he is having an impressive second season with the Taipans but he's also finding himself under a lot more scrutiny and receiving even greater attention from opposition teams who are desperate to not allow him to be a match-winner.

But coach Mike Kelly liked what he saw from his big man in the second half on Wednesday night against the Breakers and hopes to see more of it for long on Friday against the Phoenix.

"I just thought he had more energy in this game and I think there's going to be times he misses shots, but as long as he attacks the rim and doesn’t settle for shots, and then defensively does his best to contest and rebound the ball and talk, then I'm happy," Kelly said. 

"I thought he had better energy on the defensive end and that's where it all starts."

5. PHOENIX SET TO UNLEASH A WEAPON
It appears likely that the South East Melbourne Phoenix will be unleashing the NBA-experienced Ryan Broekhoff for the game against the Taipans on Friday night

As luck would have it, Friday night appears to be the occasion for the South East Melbourne Phoenix to unleash their new weapon, Ryan Broekhoff, as well.

Broekhoff has signed with the Phoenix for the remainder of the NBL season after not being able to secure an NBA contract for this season, but with his pedigree of being a proven NBA player and a regular Australian Boomer, he looms as a real difference maker.

Broekhoff has shown in the stints he's had in the NBA on top of his time playing in Europe and the Boomers that he could be considered among the very best three-point shooters in the world.

Now he is coming out of two weeks of quarantine, has only had a couple of training runs and hasn’t played an official professional game for some time, so how much the Phoenix can expect from his first up remains to be seen.

But he will be someone the Taipans need to be mindful of ahead of his expected debut on Friday night with the potential returns for the Phoenix of point guard Keifer Sykes and forward Kendall Stephens as well.

That's already a Phoenix team that did beat Melbourne United in overtime on Wednesday so they are going to be a big test for the Taipans.

Broekhoff is just happy to be getting closer to being ready to play and make his NBL debut.

"It’s great to finally be back on court. It’s definitely good to get some of the cobwebs out. It was an interesting first half of training but I felt better towards the end and started getting a lot better," Broekhoff said.
 
"It’ll be a little while to get back into full rhythm and obviously the conditioning level you need to be at to play. It’s day one so I’ll see how I recover from today; I got through it with no problems but there were times where I was a little bit fatigued, little bit tired and trying to catch my breath. We’ll just see how we build."