How to watch & talking points: Cairns v SE Melbourne

Cairns Taipans v South East Melbourne Phoenix
Friday, November 14, 7.30pm AEDT
Cairns Convention Centre

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Talking points

King of the North
Mojave King has always had the talent and at just 23 years old, he's still got an incredibly bright future ahead.

It's only two years since he was taken with the 47th overall pick at the NBA Draft, and King produced perhaps the best performance of his career in a 32-point haul against the reigning champions, Illawarra.

The Taipans have had their struggles this year, but if they can have some more luck on the injury front and keep players like King firing, things might just be looking up.

Brown's on the offensive
The Phoenix would be incredibly disappointed with their loss in the Throwdown and a competitor like John Brown III would want nothing more than another opportunity on court to right those wrongs.

Brown III has been brilliant in recent weeks, with his unrelenting effort and willingness to do anything to win making him a dominant force on the boards.

Of his 30 rebounds in the past three games, 18 of those have been at the offensive end.

What they're saying

Taipans coach Adam Forde on the Taipans' improvement:
"The offence is coming along better. The last three games we've held our turnovers to a seven per game average, which is vastly approved on from the 15 in the first nine games.

"Defensively is probably still where need to get some adjustments on. It's too inconsistent from game-to-game.

"Bodies will freshen up and help improve that, but we just don't want to rely on guys coming back for it to be a difference between being a good defensive team and a poor defensive team."

Phoenix coach Josh King on the loss to Melbourne United:
"When you have 22 turnovers against the best team in the league, it's going to be really hard to win it.

"There's a lot of other factors in that, but that's the one stat that's really hard to overcome.

"There's a lot we have to work on to be at the top echelon of the league."

Missing in action

Cairns
Alex Higgins-Titsha - Wrist - Season
Kody Stattmann - Hamstring - Round 10
Kyle Adnam - Knee - Round 10
Reyne Smith - Foot - Round 10
Sam Waardenburg - Ankle - December

South East Melbourne
Hunter Maldonado - Concussion - TBC

>> View full injury list