Taipans quickly turn focus to getting a win on the road

Cam Oliver did all he could and the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans had their moments, but ultimately the undefeated Hawks wouldn’t be denied with the Snakes now heading on the road searching for a win.

Oliver had another strong and efficient night for the Taipans on Thursday back at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena for what was the fifth straight home game for the Snakes to start the 2021 NBL season.

The Taipans did open up the new season with a win in front of the Orange Army against the Sydney Kings, but things haven’t quite gone to plan since with two losses now to the Hawks along with defeats at the hands of the Kings and Melbourne United.

That four-game losing streak on the back of Thursday's 90-70 defat at the hands of the Hawks is not the start to the season the Taipans were expecting or hoping for, but they now have a quick turnaround to try to return to the winner's list.

It might turn out to be a good thing that the Taipans now have little time to think about this fourth consecutive loss and they get to jump on a plane and get away together as a team for the first road game in 2021.

The Taipans now take on the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday in Brisbane presenting the quick chance for a bounce back wins to put this losing slide behind them.

The Hawks are now undefeated at 4-0 this season and they delivered their second straight standout performance in Cairns early in this new season.

Like the Taipans were able to do last season by getting to the finals after finishing last the previous year, this Hawks team looks capable of special things under coach Brian Goorjian.

That doesn’t make the defeat any easier to swallow for the Taipans, but there were still some positives and Cam Oliver had another strong night with 20 points and 11 rebounds on an extremely efficient 8/11 shooting from the floor and 3/5 from long range.

Scott Machado had to deal with being hounded all night by Hawks defensive warrior Justin Simon but still had 14 points and seven assists while Mirko Djeric added 11 points on 3/7 from deep.

Fabijan Krslovic started for the second time in his career for eight points while Jordan Ngatai contributed six points, Mojave King three (three rebounds), Majok Deng four (seven rebounds, two blocks), Kouat Noi two (six boards) and Jordan Hunt two for the first points of his NBL career.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly was happy enough with the start but once the turnovers started to mount, that’s when he noticed the Hawks start to get rolling.

"I thought we did come out with great energy defensively and tried to put our stamp on it defensively. We just could not get rolling offensively and we were the first team to bend there. They made some shots to finish the quarter and then felt comfortable throughout after that," Kelly said.

"We just have to take care of the ball better offensively. I go back to that first quarter because they started to establish themselves right at the end there when we turned the ball over a few times, and gave them some good looks and they knocked them down.

"Transition points come easily for the opposition when you turn the ball over so we just have to take care of the ball. We end up with 13 turnovers which is too many in a grinding game like that when you're not shooting well. We need to take care of the ball."

The Taipans did start proceedings well enough with Fabijan Krslovic hitting the first basket of the game before Cam Oliver drained a three ball. 

Oliver scored again for the 7-4 lead and then Scott Machado connected from deep to make it 12-6 before the Hawks went on a 16-0 run either side of quarter-time.

Machado broke that run and then the Snakes were back in the game with a triple from Jordan Ngatai. Oliver was feeling it too throwing one down before Mirko Djeric nailed consecutive three-pointers to make it just a four-point game.

But Cairns was still down nine by half-time despite a Machado triple the last score of the half from either team.

The Hawks again stretched their lead to 16 early in the third quarter, but the Taipans were able to respond starting through Oliver and then with two buckets from Machado to be back within nine.

Another triple from Oliver kept things close enough and the Mojave King had an impressive finish to the quarter putting home the in-bounds pass from Jarrod Kenny and turning it into a three-point play.

That had the margin just six heading into the fourth but the Hawks just wouldn’t be denied. The margin got out beyond 20 before a steadying three from Djeric. Hunt then scored on an offensive board on the buzzer to make the final margin 20.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 3

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 70 (Oliver 20, Machado 14, Djeric 11)

THE HAWKS 90 (Harvey 21, Jessup 19, Froling 14) 

BOX SCORE