Snake Eyes – Taipans v Wildcats NBL Cup

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans have started the NBL Cup in Melbourne strongly and now renew acquaintances with the Perth Wildcats on Friday night.

The Taipans took a win them over the New Zealand Breakers at Cairns Pop-Up Arena and then after an almost two-week break, started the NBL Cup at Melbourne's John Cain Arena with an impressive come from behind victory against the Illawarra Hawks.

There was a lot to like with the performance on Monday night against Melbourne United as well and now the Snakes are back in action this Friday and it's a first meeting of the new season against the Wildcats.

The teams last played in a tense, dramatic and hotly contested semi-final series a season ago so this will be the first chance for the Taipans to attempt to earn a measure of revenge since then.

It shapes as a fascinating contest and there's plenty to look forward to, including the following five things:

 

1. RENEWAL OF QUITE THE RIVALRY
Make no mistake, there's no love lost and no shortage of motivation for the Cairns Taipans when they face the Perth Wildcats for the first time this season

The last two times the Cairns Taipans have reached the NBL Finals it has seen them face the Perth Wildcats in the semi finals, and now the Snakes take on the 'Cats for the first time in #NBL21 on Friday night in Melbourne.

It will be the first time the two teams have ever played one another in Melbourne as well and it certainly looms as a fascinating contest.

The Taipans have been playing some strong basketball the past three games especially but at 3-6, they do need to start stringing some wins together while the defending champion Wildcats have won their first two NBL Cup games and now hold an overall 4-3 record this season.

The players and coaching staff won't discuss it, and nor should they or do they need to, but make no mistake there's going to be plenty of emotion out there as the Taipans try to knock off the Wildcats in their first battle of this season.

Last year's semi-final series will still be burning in the back of the minds of the Taipans players that were part of that, and let's face it, that is most of this current team. 

It ultimately was a great missed opportunity that had Game 3 in Perth gone the other way, the Snakes might very well have been able to hang their first NBL championship banner.

The Taipans also took on the Wildcats in the semi finals back in 2017 but it was last year's battle that is freshest in the mind, the same coaching staff and most of the playing group is back again, and Friday night has been a long time to wait for.

Game 3 of that series was way back on March 5 last year so almost 12 months later the two teams resume hostilities and there's going to be no shortage of motivation for the Taipans to record their second win of the NBL Cup, and to hand the Wildcats their first defeat.

 

2. SNAKES STILL SEARCH FOR THAT CONSISTENCY
It's hard not to have noticed that the Taipans have been playing basketball much closer to expectations in recent times but that consistency is still not fully there

It's hard not to acknowledge the fact that the Cairns Taipans last three games might very well have been their best three performances of the NBL season so far.

On the back of a six-game losing streak, the Snakes responded with a strong showing at home to beat the New Zealand Breakers 84-71.

They then had an almost two-week wait to play again to open the NBL Cup on Saturday against the Illawarra Hawks, and it was a gutsy and impressive comeback performance from the Taipans to end up winning 101-95 having lost to the same team twice in Cairns this season.

Then on Monday night even though it ended up being a loss to Melbourne United, the Taipans were actually on top of the contest for a lot of the night and there was a lot to like about the performance despite the final result.

But in both of the last two games the Taipans have conceded some big runs against them and have also lost the possession game largely on the back of being dominated with the opposition raking in the offensive rebounds.

So despite the positive signs in recent games, coach Mike Kelly still sees plenty of room for improvement and it's that ultimate search for consistent performances over four quarters that he's determined to start to see happen.

"We've played three good quarters in a lot of games but there hasn’t been a lot of games where we've played four good quarters," Kelly said. 

"I think that comes down to toughness and staying on the same page with your teammate, and keeping each other on the same page and slogging through. 

"We did that really well against Illawarra but against Melbourne they did that really well against us. We kept fighting but we didn’t stick to what got us where we were just defensively and then possession-wise on the boards."

 

3. INJURIES PROVIDES CHANCES TO STEP UP
Any injury is always unfortunate and Majok Deng is going to be missed by the Snakes but coach Mike Kelly is looking forward to seeing who steps up

While the Cairns Taipans have been playing vastly improved basketball in recent times, there's no hiding from the fact that losing Majok Deng to a knee injury is going to hurt.

Deng has been playing the best basketball of his career since joining the Taipans from Adelaide at the start of last season, and he's gone up another gear in #NBL21 averaging 11.2 points and 4.9 rebounds a game.

He hurt his knee in the first quarter of Monday night's game against Melbourne United and didn’t return, and since it has been confirmed he'll miss at least the next six weeks will a partial tear to the MCL of his left knee.

It will take some juggling for the Taipans minus their starting four man, but coach Mike Kelly has plenty of options to weigh up and might try a number of them along the way.

There's the chance to go bigger with Nate Jawai playing more and Cam Oliver sliding to the four spot while Fabijan Krslovic has also had a couple of games starting as power forward so he could do that again.

George Blagojevic could also spend some time in the four spot while on occasions, even Kouat Noi and Jordan Ngatai might be able to shift up to the power forward position potentially opening up some more game time for Mojave King.

Whatever way Kelly ends up going, he knows the Taipans are going to miss Deng but he has full faith in the rest of his group to be able to step up.

"Majok is a key part for our group but it gave Nate more of an opportunity early and I thought he was great in his minutes, and played well," Kelly said. 

"We played George in the four a little bit as well and Fab got some more minutes, and maybe it extended Cam a little bit more. But even Kouat played a little bit of four late. 

"We have a good group and when somebody doesn’t play for a while we just need people to step up, and they've done that. As much as Majok is key to us, I don’t think that was key to us losing that game. They got to stuff that we didn’t when we did or didn’t Majok, so we need to fix that moving forward."

 

4. NO COMPLACENCY DESPITE HOT RECENT FORM
Kouat Noi had the best night of his career in his last game and now he will be looking to not only back that up, but continue to grow at both ends

Kouat Noi set himself a new career-high on Monday night against Melbourne United but he's not getting ahead of himself and even if he wanted to, coach Mike Kelly wouldn’t be allowing that.

Noi was outstanding against United on Monday night scoring 17 points in the first half alone on the way to scoring a career-best 27 for the game on the back of shooting 10/20 from the field, 3/7 from three-point range and 4/4 from the foul line.

He also had five rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block in a strong all-round performance.

He will be needed to continue to come up huge as well moving forward in the absence of the injured Majok Deng, but for Kelly, he just wants Noi to continue to be back himself in offensively and keep focusing on improving his defence at the same time.

"It was great to see him get comfortable offensively and score freely, and he did that. He is in a good place in his basketball journey and his decisions are getting better I think as he gets more experience playing at the three spot," Kelly said. 

"What I'm most looking forward to is for him to continue to defend these great players like Scotty Hopson and Mitch McCarron, and keeping on making them go through his chest to score. 

"Offensively I already know he can shoot the ball and attack, but it was great to see it go in and I count on him to be really good for us offensively."

 

5. THOUGHTS FROM A FORMER STAR
Kerry Williams was an excitement machine during his NBL career with the Cairns Taipans, is now doing plenty of great things and offered his thoughts on how sees the Snakes at the moment

Kerry Williams was a popular figure during his 105-game NBL career with the Cairns Taipans having grown up dreaming of playing with the club, and he continues to be heavily involved and an inspiration to so many.

Williams has remained involved at the Taipans as part of the Indigenous Engagement Program while he's now also moved into coaching in the recent years.

It started at the urging of Aaron Fearne to start coaching juniors and now Williams has moved into coaching the Cairns Dolphins, the Queensland under-20s women's team and as of last week, was assistant coach for the Australian Boomers.

He remains an incredible Indigenous role model and trendsetter, and many believe he is a future NBL or WNBL coach in waiting with the world his oyster on the coaching front.

Williams has still kept a close on eye on the happenings with the Taipans as well. He feels coach Mike Kelly has the team on the right track and he's also enjoying the NBL Cup from what he has seen so far.

"The results haven’t been the greatest this season so far and it has been tough to watch at times, but I think the boys are right there. It's just a couple of defensive errors in the end that have hurt us, but there's a lot of talent around the league," Williams said. 

"It can be only little stretches that lose you a game but there are positive signs there but I think Mike is doing the right job and can get them playing the right way, and hopefully can get us going on a winning streak.

"And as for the NBL Cup, with things happening around the country it's great to see so much basketball being played instead of waiting for something to happen or not happen. So I think the NBL Cup is a good idea and it's good for the sport."