Snake Eyes – Taipans v United

Saturday night might not have gone to plan for the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans but the Snakes have the chance to immediately put that behind them up against Melbourne United back at the Pop-Up Arena on Monday.

It will already be the fourth home game for the Taipans at the pop-up in the space of nine days to open the 2021 NBL season and on the back of losing the last two games, everything will be thrown at a win on Monday evening to improve to a 2-2 record to close Round 2.

The Taipans opened up the new season beating the Kings in front of the Orange Army last Saturday night, but now following losses on their home floor to the Hawks on Monday and Kings this Saturday, the determination level will at fever pitch against Melbourne on Monday.

It shapes as a fascinating contest as well between two semi finalists from a season ago while Cairns and Melbourne were considered the top two championship fancies coming into #NBL21.

For those reasons and more it's a game to look forward to:

1. TAIPANS TO HOLD THEMSELVES ACCOUNTABLE
The Taipans weren’t happy with their performance on Saturday and the playing group have held themselves accountable and vowed to bounce back on Monday

The Cairns Taipans had made it a focus to bounce back from Monday's loss to the Hawks with a strong showing against the Sydney Kings on Saturday. 

While there were some better signs, the eventual eight-point loss left them frustrated post-match with the playing group taking responsibility and vowing to do something about it Monday night against Melbourne United.

The Taipans were playing catch up most of the night against the Kings and by the end of the game, had lost the rebound count by 12 including giving up 23 offensive boards to Sydney who scored 22 second chance points.

That was the major difference in the game as it turned out and after the game, Mirko Djeric spoke on behalf of the playing group outlining how disappointed they were, and how determined they will be to respond strongly on Monday night against Melbourne.

"We've had a pretty simple game plan to follow and as a group I feel like we've let Mike and the coaching staff down with how we played," Djeric said.

"I feel like they just wanted it more and obviously we kept backing at them with runs, but it's very hard to come back in this league against great teams. We all have to hold ourselves accountable, every one of us from one to 12. 

"We don’t have much time with one day to recover and then we have another great team, Melbourne United. We'll have time to watch film and scout them, and just be ready. All it comes down to is being ready to play."

2. IMPORTANT TO NOT LET HOME STAND CHANCE SLIP
With a fourth straight home game now to start the 2021 NBL season, slipping to 1-3 from those chances in front of the Orange Army would be far from ideal

The circumstances might not be ideal in this COVID-19 impacted world, but the chance for the Cairns Taipans to begin the 2021 NBL season with a home stand presented an opportunity and that means a win on Monday takes on extra significance.

With games yet to be held in New South Wales or Victoria over the opening two rounds of the season and unlikely to be in New Zealand at all and Perth only playing at home for the first time on Sunday of Round 2, the Taipans have been stationed at home.

As it's turned out, the first five games of the season for the Taipans will all be at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena and history would tell you the Snakes have one of the strongest home court advantages in all of the NBL.

That hasn’t quite translated into the results the Snakes were hoping for so far in 2021 on the back of the momentum of getting within one game of the Grand Final a year ago.

Cairns did beat Sydney to open the season but now losses to the Hawks and then the Kings again leave them with a 1-2 record heading into Monday night against Melbourne and then the Hawks again on Thursday before the first road game of #NBL21 in Brisbane against the Bullets.

To take advantage of this run of home games, the Taipans do need to get a win on Monday and history would suggest they don't lose a string of matches in Cairns too often.

Already the Taipans have lost two home games in-a-row for the first time since January 2019 and the loss to the Hawks was the biggest in front of the Orange Army in coach Mike Kelly's time at the helm.

However, after the season-opening win over Sydney, the Taipans had won eight consecutive home matches dating back to the stunning finish to last season and then a Game 2 semi-final win over the Perth Wildcats.

Given that history and the fact that over 22 years the Taipans have won over 56 per cent of their home games, they'll be hoping that pays dividends as they get a crucial win Monday against Melbourne.

3. FRESH, HUNGRY, TALENTED, FAMILIAR OPPONENTS
As determined as the Snakes will be, they come up against a fresh Melbourne United team not short on talent and with both teams no strangers to one another

The Cairns Taipans won't be lacking motivation to return to winning on Monday night, but that doesn’t mean it's going to be easy against Melbourne United.

United came into the NBL season rated as the championship favourites and then they did little to change those predictions of many when they started proceedings with an 89-65 road victory against the Adelaide 36ers.

That game in Adelaide ended a string of several weeks on the road for United thanks to the border restrictions imposed so their reward was to get to return home to Melbourne after that.

The bad news for the Taipans is that Melbourne hasn’t played since, they got the chance to recharge and refresh this week back home and now return to Cairns rejuvenated, fresh and ready to fire against the Snakes on Monday night.

The two teams are no strangers to one another either having played two pre-season games against leading into the season proper getting underway before Melbourne set up base in Cairns while unable to return home, and with plenty of time before their Round 1 game in Adelaide.

Melbourne did reach the semi finals last year falling one win short of making the Grand Final like the Taipans.

Now on the back of that, United has added Scotty Hopson from the New Zealand Breakers, Boomers big man Jock Landale, young gun Jack White and a couple of other nice pieces including Yudai Baba.

Then with their core group consisting of Chris Goulding, Mitch McCarron, David Barlow, Shea Ili and Jo Lual-Acuil back again, it's a strong looking group that Cairns is going to have to do well against to stop on Monday night in front of the Orange Army.

4. SPACE CAM NEEDS SOME MORE SUPPORT
Cam Oliver had a standout night against the Kings on Saturday and now he has another challenge opposed to Jock Landale while also needing more support

Cam Oliver had two good performances in Round 1 of the 2021 NBL season, but he vowed to step up further in Round 2 and boy did he certainly do that on Saturday night against the Sydney Kings.

The result might not have gone the way of the Snakes, but that was through no fault of Oliver.

He delivered 27 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists for the game on the back of shooting 12/22 from the field, but his impact was in more than just the numbers.

His defensive performance was much more influential than just the three blocks suggest while offensively, he produced a dazzling 360 spin move attempting a dunk and then in the fourth quarter, he threw down the hammer over a hapless Craig Moller for one of the most emphatic dunks in NBL history.

It was a performance full of heart and energy from Oliver, but unfortunately it didn’t translate into a win for the Snakes.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly was understandably happy with the performance from Oliver, who now prepares for a fascinating battle with Melbourne's Jock Landale, but he now wants more of his teammates to step up and play at that level at both ends of the floor.

"Cam played with great energy and fire, and he just seemed to be all over the place. Even when he missed a three he was right there rebounding the ball and he gave great effort," Kelly said. 

"I was pretty happy with that because he was matched up against some very good players. He had an individual great game, but I'm more worried about the team defence. 

"Cam was good and he tried to do his job defensively, he blocked shots and seemed to be contesting everything and rebounding. But as a group that's all I really care about so we need five guys working together out there defending as a group. When they all do that I think we'll be able to move forward."

5. SNAKES CAN TAKE HEART FROM LAST YEAR'S MEETINGS
Cairns and Melbourne might have both reached the semi finals last season but the Taipans won three of the four meetings to give them some heart against United

Obviously a lot changes from season to season in the NBL, but if the Cairns Taipans are looking for some added confidence coming into playing Melbourne United on Monday night, they do only need to look back to last season.

Cairns was coming off the wooden spoon and Melbourne had played in the Grand Final back in the 2018/19 NBL season, but the Taipans signalled their intentions of what they were capable of with three wins against United.

Both the Taipans and United ended up reaching the semi finals and both pushed their opponents to three games before just falling short of the Grand Final against the Perth Wildcats and Sydney Kings respectively.

Their first meeting last season came at the Cairns Convention Centre on October 28, and the Taipans made quite the statement with the 90-85 victory. 

On that night, Cam Oliver had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Scott Machado 14 points and nine assists and Majok Deng 13 points, but it was Nate Jawai the difference with 18 points.

The Snakes continued their impressive form beating United back in Cairns again on November 29, this time winning 93-86. On that occasion, Oliver was unstoppable with 26 points and 13 rebounds while Machado added 17 points and 10 assists, Deng 15 points and DJ Newbill put in 19 points.

The Taipans made it three straight against Melbourne then winning on Boxing Day in Melbourne 77-75 with Machado and Newbill both scoring 20 points, and Mirko Djeric 14 to go with six rebounds and three assists.

While Melbourne did win the fourth encounter, Cairns comfortably won the season-series against Melbourne a season ago so if they need some added confidence coming into Monday night, that should provide it for them.