R19 Preview: Cairns Taipans vs Melbourne United

When: 3pm (AEDT), Sunday 10 April, 2022

Where: Cairns Convention Centre

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

Who won last time?
Melbourne 89 (Goulding 21, White 13, Agada 12, Hukporti 12) d Cairns 73 (McCall 16, Deng 14, Pinder 14) – Round 13, Cairns Convention Centre

Melbourne owned this see-sawing contest early, Jack White and Ariel Hukporti prominent as they took a 13-point half-time edge over the Snakes. But Tahj McCall came out of the sheds breathing fire, his 12 third quarter points bringing the home team level. The fourth term was all United, scoring 19 points at the rim or free-throw line to cruise to victory.


What happened last start?

Dean Vickerman’s men seemed to be cruising to the minor premiership at that point, but back-to-back losses to Illawarra brought them back to the pack. Last week they produced two tough, down-the-stretch wins over Perth and the Phoenix to stay 0.5 games clear of Sydney, with games against Cairns (twice), Brisbane and Tassie to round out the season.

Cairns seemed to have the JackJumpers’ measure on Friday night in Hobart, leading by 10 early in the third after producing 52 points in the opening 21 minutes. But Tasmania turned the screws, Scott Machado got injured and the Taipans managed just 11 points in the next 11 minutes. They made a late run, but it wasn’t enough to avoid loss 15 of the season.


Who’s in form?

Chris Goulding – Bubbles’ quiet patch was always going to burst, his past three games producing 18ppg on 4.3 triples at 41 per cent, coming right just in time for the run home. It’s no secret the Taipans are his favourite target practice, averaging 4 triples at 42 per cent in their past eight meetings, including 21 points in 29 minutes on 5/8 threes in Round 13.

Nate Jawai – Big Nate was at his dominant best in Hobart, unstoppable en route to 17 points in 16 minutes on 5/6 from the field and 7/7 from the foul line, Cairns +11 with their man mountain playing and -18 in the other 24 minutes. That backed up his 16 points in 16 minutes against NZ in Round 17, and Nate has now hit 12 of his past 15 field-goal attempts.


Who needs to be?

Ariel Hukporti – Don’t think NBA scouts won’t be tuning in to see how Ariel handles the beast from Bamaga, given Jawai’s last game against NBA opposition produced 13 points and 6 rebounds in 17 minutes. Can the young German hold his ground without fouling so he can exploit Jawai in transition. And can he execute his improving jump hooks over big Nate?

Tahj McCall – There’s no doubt McCall has played some brilliant basketball in NBL22, but his partnership with Machado has rarely clicked. He was a game-worst -24 in Tassie on Friday, but with Scott out, he now gets to make plays with more shooters around him. Can he find the balance between aggression and ball security that the Snakes found with him sidelined?


Who’s statting up?

 - United are now 12-2 when Chris Goulding makes three or more triples, compared to 5-5 when he doesn’t

 - Melbourne are 10-2 on the road. Since the switch to a 28-game format in 2010, only the New Zealand Breakers have notched double-figure road wins in the regular season, in NBL12 and NBL13

 - Cairns are 4-7 at home. In the 28-game format they have averaged 8.8 wins at the Snakepit, and have only once registered fewer than five, in NBL19

 - The Taipans are the least efficient half-court offensive team in the NBL and rank eighth for transition efficiency. Last time against Melbourne, they were outscored 18-4 on fast-break points


Who’s matching up?

Keanu Pinder v Jo Lual-Acuil – The red-hot Pinder cooled off a little in Hobart, but the man loves a challenge, and in the NBL they don’t come much bigger than JLA. Pinder had 14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 assists last time against Melbourne, and has averaged an impressive 14ppg at 71 per cent, 10.3rpg and 3 o-boards in his past seven games.

His energy on the glass will test his slower opponent, and Pinder has the lateral quickness to defend Lual-Acuil’s drives, he just needs to avoid fouling at the cup. While JLA has quietened recently, his past 13 games have still produced 18.1ppg and 9.8rpg, and he’s shot below 50 per cent just twice in that stretch. How will he go in his first NBL22 meeting with Cairns?


Who’s talking the talk?

As the Flight of the Conchords famously said, it’s business time, and Melbourne took care of business in a sensational Throwdown contest on Thursday.

“We talked before the game about them having nothing to lose and being in desperation mode, but so are we because we have plans on where we want to finish,” Chris Goulding said.

“I just loved the way we knuckled down and relied on our defence once again, to allow us to get out and run and get some shots.”

Coach Dean Vickerman was equally pleased his team produced their trademarks in the tough moments to keep their noses ahead of the chasing pack.

“Defensively, I thought we got into their guards, drove them downhill, had shot-blockers at the rim, challenged, rebounded well, did all those things that we needed to do,” he said.

“Then you need to come up with some plays at the other end, Shea Ili with a massive offensive rebound for us and kick-out.”

For Cairns, it was the lack of those things when the whips were cracking that wasted a golden opportunity to get their fourth-straight win against Tasmania, as a potentially serious injury to Scott Machado took the wind out of their sails.

“We found a few issues in the third quarter,” coach Adam Forde said.

“What Tassie do a great job off is the hustle and the energy. They started off scoring off an offensive rebound, so that hurts. They were doing a good job slowing us down, we couldn’t get through anything.

“Scott going down rattled the whole group, myself included, so it took us a while to regroup from that, but the reality is Tassie did a great job doing all those one-percenters. They were hitting screens, they were pushing us off our spots.

“Ten offensive rebounds, including the rebound of a foul shot when the game’s in the balance, that really hurt us.”

But as they have all season, the Taipans will back up, fight through injury and take on the next challenge – Melbourne coming to town – which is arguably the NBL’s toughest.

“We’re a brotherhood and one man goes down and another steps up and takes his place. I think we have the ability to do it, it’s a shame we keep going down with injuries, but next man up,” point guard Jarrod Kenny said.

“These are the fun games, you’ve really got nothing to lose, you're undermanned, you can come out, play hard, leave it all out there. I think that’s when were at our best, when we’re playing fearless, we’re playing free and just getting out there and hooping."

It sets up a classic frontcourt battle, with Keanu Pinder and Majok Deng in a run of quality form, and Nate Jawai simply outstanding in Hobart.

“He was great,” Forde said.

“He’s tough, he’s got great vision for a big, so even with the ball in his hands, knowing where they were digging in from, he’s directing his teammates to find particular windows, hit a couple of guys on the cut, it was a great game.

“Even on the defensive end, especially more so in that first half, having him in that drops coverage and managing the guards and the bigs rolling, it was definitely one of his better games.”

He and Pinder will bang bodies with Melbourne’s two-headed monster in Jo Lual-Acuil and Ariel Hukporti, and you can bet after Thursday’s Throwdown that Cairns will test them out in the block early and often.

“Jo had his challenges in the post tonight, they made a real effort to attack in the post. Zhou Qi’s 8/9 and had an amazing game in the post,” Vickerman said.

“Jo responded and Ariel responded, I thought both of those two were really good for us in the second half, Ariel has four blocked shots, Jo has a couple of blocked shots.

“He just found another level, and we've seen Jo recently just having a baby, he hasn’t slept much, and at times his energy levels have been a little bit up and down.

“But for him to be able to find it in those last couple of minutes was huge… Jo just showed that aggression.

“When he plays with that little bit of anger and aggression and toughness, we love him attacking the rim like that and he’s so long, he gets to the rim really quickly.”

Then Deng will lock horns with Jack White, in a clash between two very mobile and skilful power forwards.

“We’re always on Jack, he’s such a talented guy, he shoots the ball at such an amazing clip in practice, in scrimmages, we want him to be aggressive,” Goulding said.

“He can do some things that people at that power forward position can’t, so we want him to be as aggressive as he wants to be.

“He’s a big part of what we do defensively, I just want to see him be aggressive and be himself, because I think his upside is enormous. We’re big fans.”

Melbourne have been big fans of the road in NBL22, with a chance to eclipse the 2013 New Zealand Breakers’ incredible 11-3 regular season and 13-3 overall away record en route to a 28-4 championship winning year.

“We’re 10-2 on the road, it’s an amazing achievement so far what we've done,” Vickerman said, having been an assistant on that Breakers team.

“We’ve got two more games on the road and certainly might be the best record I've ever had on the road.

“We've got two more to go to continue to believe that whatever situation we’re in, whether it’s four games in 10 days or whatever it is, we can go up there and play well enough and rotate people.”