Cairns' Player-Driven Comeback

The Cairns Taipans just keep proving people wrong in NBL23.

Whether it be their early season surge to the upper echelons of the ladder, their ability to ‘flip the switch’ and change the course of games in the blink of an eye, or now their ability to win without Keanu Pinder, the Taipans are becoming the party poopers for every other team this season.

After Adam Forde used his last timeout of the game while down by 18 points in the fourth quarter, nobody could have expected the comeback the Snakes would mount over the previously dominant Adelaide 36ers.

They put together a 16-0 run to come back and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat – equalling the largest fourth quarter comeback in NBL history.

After the game Adam Forde was full of praise for his players.

“I’d be lying if I said I did anything special … I burned all my timeouts, I burned my last one when we were down 18ish. The rest of it was the guys,” Forde said.

“I was probably about two-and-a-half minutes from emptying it out and putting the bench on.

“The cool thing about with the timeouts is a lot of it is player led. The guys have that discussion to start and there’s just a real sense of confidence within this group. Even I sort of sat back and thought ‘you guys are crazy’.

While it might be the performances of Shannon Scott and Tahjere McCall that stole the headlines from the victory, forward DJ Hogg played a crucial role in the late turnaround despite finding himself in foul trouble early in the game.

Hogg hit a crucial three to put the Taipans down by just two points late in the fourth quarter, and they held onto that momentum to win the game.

He says he stayed engaged in the game despite being forced to sit for longer than expected periods due to his foul count.

“When you get fouls early it’s a little frustrating, but the biggest thing is staying mentally focused and cheering on your team versus sulking on the bench.

“We were down big, but I just remember everyone in the huddle saying ‘we’ve still got time, we can do this’.

“We started chipping away at it, getting steals, making shots, taking charges, hitting threes and before you know it we’re up on or two.”

“It felt really good.”