R14 Preview: Sydney Kings vs Cairns Taipans

When: 3pm (AEDT), Sunday 6 March 2022

Where: Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; 10 Peach; 10 Play; Sky Sport NZ

Who won last time?

Sydney 89 (Ware 40, Louzada 11, Vodanovich 9) d Cairns 84 (Oliver 27, Machado 14, Ngatai 14) – April 17, 2021, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

It was a thrilling finish as the Kings held onto a slender two-point win with just 28 seconds left on the clock. It was fitting that it was Casper Ware who slashed to the basket to record the winning basket, a bucket that gave him an NBL career high 40 points. 

It was a huge win for Sydney who came into the match with Jarell Martin and DJ Vasiljevic joining Xavier Cooks in the injury ward and coach Adam Forde admitted before the match he would need to try "something new" against the Taipans. 

Ware’s heroics was enough to seal the win while Scott Machado had 14 points and six rebounds on return for Cairns, but it was fellow import Cam Oliver that ran riot with a Herculean 27 points and 19 rebounds. Jordan Ngatai was also a crucial contributor with 14 points including four triples. But surrendering a 27-12 first quarter and the Ware rampage ultimately conspired to leave Cairns finishing just short.

What happened last start?

The form of both teams couldn’t be more contrasting coming into this Sunday afternoon Indigenous Round contest at Qudos Bank Arena with the Kings the form team of the league while the Taipans are on struggle street.

Both teams are playing their first games since last Sunday and for the Kings, they escaped Adelaide with a thrilling 93-90 win thanks to a triple from Jaylen Adams with 3.5 seconds on the clock. That meant that Sydney has now won five in-a-row and seven of their last eight to have improved to 10-7 on the season, but they remain locked in a battle for a top four position and need to keep that form going should they want to end up taking part in post-season action.

The Kings got huge games from both Adams (26 points, seven assists) and Xavier Cook (25 points, 10 rebounds) against the 36ers but they were without both Tom Vodanovich (Tall Blacks) and Jaylin Galloway (Boomers) who were on national team duties. They will both return to add some further depth to the Sydney line-up on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Cairns battled hard last Sunday at home to Melbourne United before succumbing to their depth in an 89-73 loss. That came just days after they snapped a four-game losing streak with a hard earned 73-69 win on the road to the Brisbane Bullets so their form back to Round 13 was improved on what they'd been producing prior to that.

The Snakes were still missing key trio Nate Jawai, Jarrod Kenny and Kouat Noi last weekend, and now that personnel issue isn’t helped coming into this game with the Kings with Tahjere McCall and Mirko Djeric both to miss through injury. However, there is some good news with Noi and Kenny likely to be available to be used on the floor by coach Adam Forde.

Who’s in form?

Jaylen Adams/Xavier Cooks – How can you split these two right now for what they are doing with the hot Kings. Just 12 games into his time in the NBL, Adams is now producing 20.5 points, 6.0 assists and 5.5 rebounds a game. Those are MVP level numbers and then there is what Cooks is giving. He could well be both the best defender and rebounder in the NBL, and he's making quite the case for being the best finisher at the rim now too. He threw down a host of dunks thanks to being set up by Adams in Sunday's win over the 36ers.

Keanu Pinder – He is having a tremendous season. The numbers of 8.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks a game only tell part of the story. The energy he plays with, the passion he brings and the uplifting nature of dunks, blocks and diving for the loose balls is infectious. He is providing plenty at both ends of the floor for the Snakes right now as he thrives after a rocky season to start his NBL career with the Adelaide 36ers, and he'll need to bring that energy again on Sunday especially to try to limit the influence Xavier Cooks has on the game.

Who needs to be?

DJ Vasiljevic – The Kings have been on fire of late and Jaylen Adams, Xavier Cooks and Jarell Martin have been leading the way with Ian Clark slotting in nicely, but DJ has been a little quiet since a huge showing of 23 points going back five games against the New Zealand Breakers. He's averaging just 8.5 points in the games since even though the Kings have won them all, but to help let that big three do what they do, he needs to continue to make himself dangerous and keep looking for his shots.

Scott Machado – It's really quite simple, for the Taipans to have any chance against the Kings on Sunday especially without Tahjere McCall and Mirko Djeric there to help him in the back court, and with no Nate Jawai to dump the ball down low to, Machado needs to fire. He needs to run the offence and get the ball moving, when he holds the ball and dribbles the life out of it, good things aren’t really happening. But if he plays at pace and stretches the Sydney defence, and gets the mix right of setting up teammates and taking good looks himself, then he's still capable of being a match-winner.

Who’s matching up?

Jaylen Adams v Scott Machado – There's no other match up you could be looking more forward to in this one than the battle of superstar point guards. Go back two seasons and Machado was clearly the best point guard in the league when he was runner-up MVP to Bryce Cotton when he helped the Snakes to within one game of a Grand Final. He is working back from injury now and showed what he's capable of in a match-winning display against the Brisbane Bullets. But right now, you'd have to say Adams is the best point guard in the league and you never know, he could even be the best player with his ability to shoot, get to the rack, set up his teammates and hit game winners which he's now done twice.

Who’s statting up?

 - History isn’t on the side of the Taipans of coming away from Sydney with the win, with the Snakes having only won six of 34 games in the Harbour City against the Kings, and just 18 of 61 overall meetings between the two teams
 
 - Things are even worse at Qudos Bank Arena if you are Cairns with the Kings having won 13 of 14 clashes there against the Taipans

 - The Kings are attempting to win six straight matches and all 1 times they have achieved that in their history they have at least gone on to reach the Grand Final series

 - The Taipans are the lowest scoring team in the league over the past four matches, averaging 67.8 points. The Kings, meanwhile, have averaged 88.5 over their last four including hitting 90 plus points in three of those
 
 - This game features the league's top two rebounders with Sydney's Xavier Cooks pulling down 9.5 boards a game and Cairns' Stephen Zimmerman 9.6. Cooks needs three more than Zimmerman to overtake him in top spot.

Who’s talking the talk?

Kings coach Chase Buford is understandably happy with how his team is coming together having won five in-a-row, and seven of the last eight, but he doesn’t want them thinking they can't keep finding ways to grow.

"You look at the three games before this little run of seven of eight, and we lost by close margins after having the lead in those games. Whether it's a close game or not, I'm very encouraged by our team's ability to continue to grow down the stretch," Buford said.

"I still think a couple of times we can get a better shot at different times, but we're learning how to execute down the stretch and what a good shot looks like. We've always been a good defensive team and we'll hang our hats on getting stops, and growing from those moments."

Xavier Cooks is in some career-best form for the Kings now and he's enjoying the chance to show what he can do while being healthy, but he's all about helping the team win.

"It's just about getting used to each other. We've got seven new players on this team and it's tough coming into a season having never played together and knowing how each other plays. We're starting to figure things out, we're getting stops on the defensive end and we're playing good basketball right now," Cooks said.

"As for myself, it's just about getting on the court and making plays that I do. Just getting rebounds, pushing the ball and bringing up the pace a little bit. The main thing is just being on the court and not getting in foul trouble, and it helps to get stats when you're on the floor. You can't get them from the sidelines."

Sunday provides the first chance for Adam Forde to coach the Taipans against the Kings who he was head coach of last season, but he's got more to worry about that any personal feelings that brings up.

"It's one of those things where I've been very fortunate to have got the opportunities that I have, and the opportunities I got at Sydney were off the back of the experiences and opportunities I had at Perth, and this opportunity is on the back of the time I spent at Sydney and Perth," Forde said.

"We just have to lock in and we've had a week to prepare for Sydney, and we've got them twice in two weeks but it's not any different as if we were preparing for an Illawarra or Adelaide. 

"They're rolling at the moment too so we have to make sure we bring our A-game, look after our bodies and we give it our best effort. But on a personal level, it will be nice to catch up with everybody but it's just another game that we want to make sure we play our hardest in and put our best effort forward."

Taipans big man Stephen Zimmerman looks to have found a way he can be effective down in the block in his first NBL season, but there are times he doesn’t see a lot of the ball and he'd certainly like the chance to be more involved.

"We were saying that we wanted to go into the post early in this game and use me, and help spread out the court," Zimmerman said.

"We kind of got away from that but I'm trying to be an option for everybody and to help everybody out. Trying to keep the floor spaced is a big thing for us.

"I feel like the feeling on the court for this game was a little different than against Brisbane. United came out and put some pressure on us to take us out of things, but it's time to really lock in again. 

"I feel like that's a slight problem of ours is that we get away from things we talk about, and have worked on and get away from it whenever we get pressured."