R8 Preview: Cairns Taipans v Sydney Kings

When: 5.00pm (AEDT), Thursday 4 March

Where: State Basketball Centre, Melbourne

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

The last time

Sydney 99 (Ware 22, Martin 22, Newley 17) d Cairns 91 (Oliver 27, Machado 14, Noi 13) - January 23, Cairns Pop-Up Arena

The Sydney Kings opened their season with two games in Cairns and after the Taipans held on in a thriller in the opener, they were able to turn things around a week later. Angus Glover joined Xavier Cooks, Daniel Kickert and Didi Louzada on the injured brigade for Sydney during that game, but the Kings held on for the win despite a spirited Taipans fightback. It was on the back of a wonderful combination developing between point guard Casper Ware and Jarell Martin who put up 22 points apiece while Cam Oliver did what he could for the Snakes having 27 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.

The now

Both teams played four games in quick succession in the opening two weeks at the NBL Cup and while they are both coming off last up losses, the Sydney Kings went close against Melbourne United while the Cairns Taipans have had to stew over disappointing showings against the Perth Wildcats and Brisbane Bullets.

The Kings' injury worries haven’t subsided with impressive import centre Jarell Martin now sidelined with a knee injury even though they have regained veteran big Daniel Kickert, but coach Adam Forde deserves to be happy with the way they are coming together as a unit even if frustrated that they seem to be making a habit of losing the close ones.

Sydney's NBL Cup opened with a 17-point win against the Adelaide 36ers and then they opened Week 2 with an 18-point victory against the New Zealand Breakers. In between they had their chances and did a lot right against the Perth Wildcats and Melbourne United before losing both games only by a combined 10 points.

They are now coming into Week 3 at the NBL Cup with a 2-2 record with 15 points to their credit out of the available 28 while holding a 5-6 record in the season overall.

A six-game losing streak during a home stretch earlier in the season was hardly ideal for the Taipans but their last game before the NBL Cup saw them snap that with a win against the New Zealand Breakers. The Snakes then opened the NBL Cup beating the Illawarra Hawks and they had appeared to turn the corner, but the last three games have been challenging.

It began with a narrow defeat to Melbourne United where the Taipans did lead most of the way before being overrun. But then the last two games against the Wildcats and Bullets have seen them lose by a combined 40 points. Conceding 115 points last up against Brisbane is especially concerning leaving Cairns with a 1-3 record in the NBL Cup with nine points while holding a 3-9 record in the season overall.

The stats

- The Taipans will be disappointed to have lost their last two games by 20 points. That's the first time it has happened since January 2005. Last season they only lost by 20 or more points once and that was in the last round against Brisbane with their finals spot secure. This season they've already lost three times by 20 or more.

- Cairns will look to finish the game better having outscored their opponents in just one of the past eight last quarters. In the seven games they've lost the fourth quarters, it has been by seven or more points.

- When the Kings win this season they have made a habit of winning big. Their victories have come to the tune of eight points, 19, 10, 17 and 18 at an average of 14.4 points.

- Meanwhile it's the close games that Sydney has been making a habit of losing with their six defeats coming by one point along with three points, five, three, seven and three at an average of 3.7 points.

The key men

Cam Oliver – 'Space Cam' has already enjoyed playing against the Sydney Kings this season including 27 points, 10 rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists in the second of their two meetings at Cairns Pop-Up Arena. That saw him have a fascinating battle with Jarell Martin but he won't be there this time for the Kings and it presents Oliver the chance to make a real statement. He is having a good second season with the Snakes putting up 17.6 points and 10.1 rebounds a game, but would be as frustrated as anybody with their 3-9 and he has a chance to really do something about it on Thursday.

Jordan Hunter – If Oliver is a key for Cairns then somebody trying to quell his influence from Sydney is going to be of equal importance. That role is going to largely fall into the hands of young big man Jordan Hunter but like any youthful player he has been inconsistent with his increased role this season. He had a career-best night two games ago against the New Zealand Breakers with 24 points but then struggled with foul trouble last up against Melbourne United and had just three points and five rebounds. His numbers won't be important come Thursday night, but if he can help deny Oliver being a match-winner for Cairns he could in turn be a deciding factor for the Kings.

The quotes

Sydney Kings coach Adam Forde liked a lot of what his team did last up against Melbourne United and rightfully so especially with their offensive execution in the first half.

They went away from what he wanted a little after half-time and he wants to see them execute better down the stretch starting Thursday against the Taipans.

"We played selfish. It was just bad basketball and I took a timeout because we weren’t running our offence effectively. Melbourne came out and did a good job of getting up in that zone but we drew up what we wanted to do at half-time and we've been running it since pre-season," Forde said.

"The three times we ran it we got two good scores and then we didn’t run it. Everyone just wants to shoot these deep threes. We were able to draw up another couple of sets in another timeout which were effective but we lost the momentum when DJ lost his foul shots after the challenge. 

"It was disappointing in that sense and I don’t want to use fatigue as an issue because we're not the only ones to play four games in seven days. We've got to learn from this and it's another game we had a chance to win. Our winning margin is great but our losing margin right now is the issue because we can't close out the close ones. That's what is giving us our losing record."

Forde is a rookie coach and with a decidedly new-looking Kings team at his disposal this season but that doesn't mean he doesn’t want to see their execution improve as they learn more about each other.

"It's a learning experience for everybody, including myself. It was a similar situation against Illawarra when they made their foul shots and I wanted us to go out and play, get spaced and then we turned it over," Forde said.

"In this game, they missed the foul shot so we didn’t have the option of a timeout and it was a similar result. We did get a good look though. It's a learning experience for me, it's a learning experience for the team and it's only a loss in that sense if we don’t learn anything from it."

Taipans coach and Reigning NBL Coach of the Year Mike Kelly knows that for the Snakes to get back to winning basketball it all needs to start on the defensive end.

"The defence is a huge concern and if we don’t fix it the season will slip away. It's definitely something that we are trying to address urgently and the guys know what needs to be done. They know what we need to do so we'll keep pressing and try to be better defensively," Kelly said.

"I thought especially in the first half we were able to run what we wanted to run. We actually had a pretty good first half offensively but we were still down nine because we couldn’t defend or stop anything. We tried to stop everything and didn’t stop anything. 

"I was happy that we got ourselves in the right space and attacked, and made some shots and got to the foul line some. Again it's going to come back to the defensive side of the ball for us to be a team that competes in this league."

Taipans centre Nate Jawai got more involved offensively in the first half to show he can still be a force against the Brisbane Bullets and he enjoyed his battle with Matt Hodgson. 

But he's just focusing on continuing to get better defensively to ensure he earns those extra minutes moving forward.

"Obviously I'm disappointed about the loss but I'm always comfortable playing against Brisbane with two of their seven-footers," Jawai said.

"I love that match up with Hodgy so it's comfortable for me going into the game, but I dropped off towards the second half and I think we are disappointed with our defence as a team. That kind of affected us going the other way so I didn’t really buy into how I played in the first half. 

"I'm more thinking of the team effort and that's what I was worried about. I was just fortunate enough to get the ball in the first half. Obviously this is a new system we are running and I'm still getting used to it, and be more consistent on the defensive end. 

"Defence is a big thing that I need to work on and I can see myself more on the court the more I improve so that's where I need to improve moving forward and I need to be much better on it."