Taipans defeat Phoenix in home opener

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans have won their first home game of the season, with an impressive 87-80 victory over the South East Melbourne Phoenix at the Cairns Convention Centre on Thursday night.

New Taipans point guard Patrick Miller led all scorers with 23 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds while NBA prospect Bobi Klintman impressed with a double-double of 15 and 11.

The new line-up entered the building but were missing Tahjere McCall and Taran Armstrong, while import forward Josh Roberts returned to the roster but did not see court time.

After a long off-season, the Orange Army came out in full force and Sam Waardenburg rewarded them early, with a huge dunk in the opening minutes to get the 4000-strong crowd on their feet and spur a 22-20 lead.

The Taipans managed to get an early lead and held onto it for the majority of the night, leading at every break and only lost the lead once in the second quarter, after a 10-1 Phoenix run.

At half-time, Miller led all scorers with 14 points while Bul Kuol and Klintman had 10 apiece for the 43-38 lead.  

“This is what we reflected on from New Zealand,” said Taipans head coach Adam Forde.

“We found a couple of times, in that first half that we had opportunity to get a five-point lead, and then blow it out to double digits.

So today, we were able to get it out to double-digits but we couldn’t push it out to 20. Because this is the thing: be up 5? Be up 10. Be up 10? Be up 20. But this is part of the process.”

The Phoenix were without Alan Williams and Craig Moller, but were paced by captain Mitch Creek’s 20 points and eight rebounds.

Gary Browne Jr was also important with 13 points but the side struggled to overcome the loss of Tyler Cooks mid-game due to an accidental elbow to the eye.

For Cairns, Miller and Klintman led the team while Kuol was back to his defensive best in his long-awaited return from a wrist injury for12 points and seven rebounds while Lat Mayen continued his fine from the NBL Blitz for 12 points as well.

 “Maybe we got a little spoilt with the results being immediate [last season] but people forget that was a two-year process,” said Forde.

“This year, with the group we have in, we’re trying to fast track that in eight months. So ,this is expected. This needs to be addressed and highlighted – we don’t get away with just getting the win. It’s important we keep addressing the things we need to improve on.

“Right now, we’re like a lion cub that has its prey in its mouth, and we don’t know how to kill it yet.”

The Taipans play the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday, before heading to North America for the club’s first NBLxNBA trip.