Taipans Target Consistency, Andrews Finds his Rhythm

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans will look to steady their season when they host the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday night at the Cairns Convention Centre.

Head Coach Adam Forde said the side’s offensive cohesion is starting to take shape after an up-and-down opening to the year.

"The offense is coming along — the last three games we’ve held our turnovers down to a seven-per-game average (with a season-low of three turnovers in the win against the JackJumpers)," Forde said.

"That’s vastly improved from the 15 per game across the opening nine. Our assists are up — 22 per game across round 7 and 8— which comes off the back of better shot selection. We’re shooting 46 per cent from the field compared to 41 per cent early on. Defensively, we still need to make adjustments. It’s too inconsistent from game to game."

Central to that offensive lift has been the growing influence of Portland guard Andrew Andrews.

Currently third in the NBL for assists per game — including 21 assists across his past three outings — while scoring 14.5 points per game. 

Andrew Andrews shapes as a key matchup against SEM Phoenix, especially with the prospect of trading jumpshots with dangerous scorer Nathan Sobey. 

"Part of the improvement has been off the back of Andrews," Forde said. 

"In a normal situation we bring in our starting point guard early with a full preseason and practice games to get integrated. In our case he arrived in Round 2 and it’s been a baptism by fire.

"Now that Drew has settled, that’s kind of what the last three games have really shown. He’s been the leveller for us, especially on the offensive end. Full credit to Drew — we’re starting to see the improvement of what we’re trying to do."

The Snakes face a Phoenix outfit boasting the NBL’s number-one ranked offense (97 points, 23 assists and nearly 13 threes per game) led by NBL veteran Sobey who’s averaging 21.7 points and 3.9 assists.

The Taipans enter Round 9 eager to respond after last week’s 107–90 loss to Illawarra, despite Mojave King’s career-best 32-point night.

“King has been around enough basketball to know what an opportunity looks like and he capitalised on it,” Forde said. 

“I would love to get more 30 point games from him, but realistically if he’s just able to make the impact that he is — making cuts off the ball, shooting open shots and pushing the fast break in transition. If he can tick those boxes for us, he’s going to be a massive piece for what we want to do this season.”

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans host the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday, 14 November from 6:30pm before hitting the road and battling Adelaide 36ers on Sunday, 16 November from 3:30pm - grab your tickets for Friday’s game HERE.