Oliver, Machado inspire Taipans fightback over Kings

If anyone was wondering why the Cairns Taipans were so desperate to welcome back Cam Oliver and Scott Machado for #NBL21 they only had to see the way they helped inspire a come from behind 87-86 season-opening home win over the Sydney Kings on Saturday night.

Machado and Oliver were both All-NBL team members a season ago as the Taipans made a stunning run from wooden spooners to within a game of the Grand Final, but the Snakes had a tough call to make.

One of their three imports couldn’t return and in the end it was the league's Best Defensive Player and Cairns' leading scorer DJ Newbill that was the unfortunate casualty. But based on Saturday night, this Cairns team can still go a long way with Machado and Oliver leading the charge.

Oliver had his greatest impact at the defensive end as he blocked five shots and put himself right at the top of the tree in Damian Martin Best Defensive Player voting. He also had 11 rebounds and 12 points including hitting the two free-throws to secure the win.

Machado had a fascinating duel with Casper Ware. Last year's MVP runner-up hit a crucial three to put Cairns ahead with two minutes remaining on his way to 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the night.

Despite all that, it was Sydney on top most of the game before Cairns' defence held them scoreless in the final two minutes. Ware still had two chances late to put his team back in front. 

He was amazed a foul from Machado wasn’t deemed in the act of shooting, but the Kings had three seconds still and Ware took the final shot of the game, but his ninth three-point attempt didn’t fall. He ended up making just one of those and the Snakes thrilled their home fans with the one-point win.

Mirko Djeric went 4/7 from deep for 15 points too for Cairns with Majok Deng adding 13 points and six rebounds, Kouat Noi 12 points on a perfect 3/3 from deep and Next Star Mojave King was encouraging with seven points and three boards.

Reigning NBL Coach of the Year Mike Kelly has no doubt having a stable group helped ensure the chemistry was strong on opening night.

"I feel like the continuity of having the guys back from last year, a lot of them, means that we do have some continuity and I think that helps our group," Kelly said.

"We didn’t play great basketball the whole game but we stayed together and the guys finished strongly down the stretch so I think it definitely helps."

Ware might have shot just 6/21 but top-scored for the Kings with 18 points while DJ Vasiljevic was outstanding on debut as the rookie put up 15 points. Brad Newley added 14 points and six rebounds, and NBA veteran Jarrell Martin 11 points and eight boards in only 15 minutes.

Rookie Kings coach Adam Forde was philosophical after the loss knowing it was a one possession game.

"We had a couple of things we really wanted to focus on and I felt for the most part we are able to get most of those key points down, but the one that hurt us the most was second chance points," Forde said.

"We held them to one offensive rebound in the first and then 16 for the other three quarters. You aren’t going to win too many games giving up that many second chance points but we'll learn from it, get better and play them again next week."

Sydney made it a concerted effort to go inside the arc led by Casper Ware early which ended up opening up some three-point opportunities for Brad Newley, Didi Louzada and DJ Vasiljevic.

It was the three ball keeping Cairns close including two early knockdowns from Kouat Noi, and despite Scott Machado's second of the opening term, Sydney was up 30-24 on the back of dominating the glass including seven offensive boards to one.

Djeric continued firing to start the second quarter nailing two more threes but Cam Oliver picked up a third foul and Sydney maintained a handy advantage despite Djeric nailing four of the nine opening half Cairns three-pointers.

Majok Deng stepped up with Oliver sitting but Sydney still led narrowly 51-50 at the half before Oliver gave Cairns back the lead with a three to immediately open the second half.

It wouldn't last and with Oliver picking up his fourth foul as did Sydney's Jordan Hunter, it created a chess game between coaches how to use the bigs. But the Kings remained on top and a Vasiljevic inspired 8-0 helped them still lead 70-64 after three.

Then Shaun Bruce found Hunter for an alley-oop backed up by a Brad Newley triple to still have Sydney up five with three minutes to go.

But Cairns stepped up its defence anchored by Oliver inside forcing Sydney into tough shots and up the other end, Noi drained a three, Machado did the same and then Oliver hit the game-winning free-throws.

Ware still had his two chances late for Sydney but a call didn’t go his way on a foul and then he missed the desperation three on the buzzer.

Cairns backs up again Monday at the Pop-Up Arena against The Hawks while the Kings remain in town for a rematch next Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 1

CAIRNS TAIPANS 87 (Machado 17, Djeric 15, Deng 13)

SYDNEY KINGS 86 (Ware 18, Vasiljevic 15, Newley 14) 

BOX SCORE