R17 Preview: Cairns Taipans v Brisbane Bullets

When: 8.00pm (AEST), Saturday 8 May

Where: Cairns Pop-Up Arena

Broadcast: ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
Brisbane 115 (Sobey 30, Drmic 20, Froling 17) d Cairns 95 (Machado 26, Oliver 21, Noi 11) – NBL Cup Week 2, John Cain Arena

Ironically the last meeting between the Queensland rivals took place in Melbourne back during the NBL Cup and it was quite the dynamic performance from the Brisbane Bullets to put up 115 points and beat the Cairns Taipans by 20.

The Taipans started well to lead 28-25 by quarter-time on the back of seven Nate Jawai points, but it was all Brisbane from there. Nathan Sobey took over the contest and was simply unstoppable whether choosing to shoot the three ball, drive and attack the basket, and push the tempo to help bring his teammates into the game.

The end result was a domination from the Bullets over the last three quarters outscoring the Taipans 90 to 67 to win by 20. Not only did Brisbane pile on the points with 115 on the back of shooting 39/74 per cent at 58 per cent, 15/33 at 45 per cent from beyond the arc, and 22/25 at 88 per cent from the stripe, but they dominated the glass with 45 rebounds to 28 from Cairns.

Sobey was the star with 30 points, three rebounds and three assists on 10/16 shooting but he had plenty of other standout contributors in support. Anthony Drmic put up 20 points and seven rebounds while hitting 5/5 from downtown while fellow former 36er Harry Froling put up 15 points and 11 boards. Vic Law still had 14 points before receiving a second technical foul to start the fourth quarter while Jason Cadee had another 11 points and six assists.

Offence wasn’t the issue for Cairns and Scott Machado still put up 26 points and six assists, and Cam Oliver 21 points and six rebounds with some highlight emphatic second half slams. Kouat Noi had 11 points but the Snakes just couldn’t stop the Bullets or grab rebounds in the end.

Earlier in the season, the teams also played out an overtime thriller in Brisbane that saw the Bullets prevail 105-103.

 

The now

The Taipans and Bullets now meet twice in Cairns in the closing weeks of the #NBL21 season and they are going to be crucial for Brisbane to keep their playoff hopes alive, but at the same time the Snakes will want to play well and notch some wins in front of the Orange Army.

Brisbane is still clinging to their finals hopes with an 11-14 record with still 11 games of their season remaining, including four of them in-a-row back home in Brisbane after this Saturday night's trip to Cairns.

The Bullets can't afford too many more slip ups if they do want to reach the finals in what will be the last season in charge as head coach for Andrej Lemanis, and they especially can't afford to drop games against a team out of playoff contention like the Taipans.

That doesn’t mean it's going to be easy for Brisbane to come away with the win up in Brisbane with the Bullets coming off a loss in Adelaide by 22 points last Saturday night which came on the back of a big win in Melbourne over the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

But the Bullets have lost four of the last five matches before getting to spend this week back home in Brisbane to prepare for the trip to Cairns, and to welcome new import BJ Johnson into the group after he got out of hotel quarantine on Wednesday.

The Taipans come into the game with a 7-20 record and having lost their past two matches to the South East Melbourne Phoenix and Adelaide 36ers over the past two weeks as they adjust to life without Cam Oliver, and work Venky Jois into the system as his replacement.

But the Snakes have had a couple of days back at home to prepare for the Bullets to visit after losing in Adelaide to the 36ers on Tuesday night. They were able to welcome back Majok Deng from a knee injury and he'll be another big plus come Saturday night as the Snakes look to reward their home fans for their support in a challenging season in what is their second last home game of #NBL21.

 

The stats

- The Taipans have won their last five home games against the Bullets. The last win in Cairns for Brisbane was December 14, 2017 when Perrin Buford blocked a potential winner from Scoochie Smith. Buford had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the game while Jerry Evans Jr top-scored for the Snakes with 18 points and nine rebounds.

- The Bullets are the only team that have not beaten the Taipans in Cairns with Mike Kelly as coach of the Snakes. However, this will be their first ever meeting at the Pop-Up Arena with the previous clashes all taking place at the Convention Centre.

- The first two games between these teams this season have been high-scoring with the Bullets putting up 110 points a game and the Taipans 99. However, the first meeting in Brisbane did go into overtime where Vic Law hit the winner for the Bullets

 

The key men

Scott Machado – He has had his struggles at times in the second half of his second NBL season, but overall you'd have to still say he has put together a strong #NBL21 campaign averaging 16.0 points, 7.1 assists and 3.5 rebounds a game. The problem he's found is that the opposition teams put just about all their attention defensively into shutting him down, especially since the departure of Cam Oliver. That was again the case on Tuesday night in Adelaide where Sunday Dech did a hounding defensive job on him. But he's still capable of leading this increasingly young Taipans team and he'll be as determined as anyone to help give the home fans a victory come Saturday night.

Nathan Sobey – He has certainly enjoyed life against the Taipans in the first two meetings with his original NBL club this season, and he'll look to put in another statement performance on Saturday night to keep the Bullets in the playoff hunt. In the opening two games against Cairns this season, he has combined for 60 points, seven rebounds and eight assists while shooting 19/35 from the field, 7/17 from deep and 15/15 from the foul line. So after two 30-point games already against the Taipans, another one on Saturday night and it could well be another win for the Bullets.

 

The quotes

Taipans coach Mike Kelly was disappointed in his team's defensive performance early on Tuesday in Adelaide that saw them again fall behind by a big margin in the first quarter. He's hoping to not be again playing catch up on Saturday night against the Bullets.

"We did struggle offensively. We got the ball into Nate some in that first quarter and I thought he did an OK job of playing through some contact that wasn’t called, but it was just at the defensive end," Kelly said. 

"We didn’t get through some screens and they knocked down some open jumpers. They also got to the basket at will, and then when they missed shots they were able to get into us and rebound the ball. 

"I think they had five offensive rebounds in the first quarter. Then we settled and did a better job in the second quarter. It was really at the defensive end for us where they took control and we walked the ball up the floor, and walked into our sets and didn’t get great offence going."

There are no excuses for Kelly though. No matter who is or isn’t available or still with the team, he will always back his squad in to have enough talent to be competitive and to win games of basketball. 

And Saturday night at home to the Bullets is certainly no different.

"I think we've shown that with the group we have right now that we can be competitive and put ourselves in a position to win games. But we have to do it consistently," Kelly said.

"It has been the same message when we had everybody at the beginning of the season, and it's the same message now. We have enough to keep ourselves in games and win games. We just need to stand up and match our opposition in the fight."

The biggest positive to come out of Tuesday night's game in Adelaide for the Taipans was the successful return from a knee injury of Majok Deng, and Kelly was as happy as anyone to have him back out there.

"It was really cool to see Majok back with the group," Kelly said.

"He's been kind of busting at the seams to get back to play through training and work outs so we're really happy to have him back with the group. He got going in that first game back after getting used to playing basketball again."

Taipans forward Majok Deng had been a frustrated man to sit out the 16 games with the knee injury he sustained at the start of the NBL Cup. 

So to not only come back out and play again on Tuesday, but to knock down some shots and finish with 16 points and six rebounds gives him plenty of confidence to take into his home return now on Saturday against the Bullets.

"It's been a while since I played a game of basketball so you're always a little bit itchy to get out there," Deng said. 

"It was good to get that first one out of the way and I'm just happy that I get to play out there again."

Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis has been glad to have some time back at home in Brisbane this week to regroup and refresh, and to prepare themselves for a run at the finals over these last 11 games starting Saturday night in Cairns.
 
"It's good that we had a clear week to get back home, and get a little bit of conditioning back into us leading into the last third of the season," Lemanis said. 

"The reality is we still have 11 games of basketball left of the season so we have to get ourselves right, get BJ into the group and look forward to ending this thing on the right way."

Lemanis is also looking forward to welcoming new import BJ Johnson into the group against the Taipans given they have now been playing without an import since the injury to Vic Law and departure of Orlando Johnson.

"He got out of quarantine on Wednesday and was able to join us on Wednesday afternoon so we had Thursday and Friday with practice sessions with him as we travel up to Cairns," Lemanis said.

"Obviously sitting in quarantine for two weeks is not ideal preparation and he'll have a short preparation to get a handle on us, and us on him, so we'll ease him into the process. We all know that load management is the thing that is prevalent in sport right now, and it's the significant increase in load that adds to the injury risk. 

"That's something we'll work with our conditioning staff with, and they'll talk to us about what's smart and reasonable to proceeded with without him getting injured. Obviously we're tight on time frame so we'll try and expediate that as much as we can, but the reality is he's where he's at from a conditioning point of view. We'll fit him in and see what it looks like."

New Brisbane import BJ Johnson himself is happy with the way his Bullets teammates have already welcomed him into the group, and he's looking forward to making an impact over these last 11 games.

"I'm just thankful for the opportunity. Since day one the guys have welcomed me and thrown me in the group chat, and made me feel like I'm one of them. I'm thankful for that," Johnson said.

"Getting in shape is one of the main things I'm focused on right now and the basketball part is probably the least of my worries. 

"Once I get in shape and get comfortable knowing where these guys want to be at on the court and how they play, and they get comfortable knowing what I like to do on the court, then I think we've got a good group that can really measure up.

"For me I've been playing basketball for about 20 years now so I think I'll be alright. I've just been the underdog guy my whole life. I worked my way to the NBA and I'm trying to work my way back, and I'm just trying to make the most of it."