Slithering Snakes Patiently Eyeing Top Two

Saturday, February 4, 2023

The Cairns Taipans slithered to second on the ladder after Friday night’s win in Perth but their path in the Hungry Jack’s NBL Finals is now in the hands of the New Zealand Breakers.

The result means who makes the Play-In, and who goes straight to the Playoffs, is still unknown. If the New Zealand Breakers defeat the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday, the Breakers will finish second. If the Breakers lose, then it will be the Taipans who remain second.

“Now we sit back and see what Brisbane can get done. Either we are preparing for a Play-In on Thursday/Friday next week or we got a bit of time off to rest some sore bodies,” coach Adam Forde said.

The Taipans were out to bite on Friday night, knocking Perth out of the top six and recording their 18^th victory, notching the second-best win rate in a season in club history.

An undermanned Snakes, missing Keanu Pinder and Tahjere McCall, entered RAC Arena last night with a mission which was accomplished with a 84-71 win.

Forde showed his gratitude of where the Taipans were last season, finishing ninth on the ladder, to becoming championship contenders this season.

“We’ve taken the youngest and most inexperienced team in franchise history, and now we’ve just recorded the second-best win rate,” Forde said.

“There’s a lot of trust from everybody doing their job.”

Import guard Shannon Scott, who provided nine points, four assists and three rebounds, confidently echoed Forde’s comments.

“Clearly, we all can come into a game and make an impact. Everybody did their job tonight,” he said.

As has already been proven this season, anything can happen. The make-up of the Finals now won’t be determined until all four games this weekend are played.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fordey's first win over the Wildcats as a Head Coach (Sydney, Cairns) tonight, to close out our regular season! ? <a href="https://t.co/ChxxSld55v">pic.twitter.com/ChxxSld55v</a></p>— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1621490809957933056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Forde spoke on the possibility of a tough road ahead of them if they make the Play-In, but praised the benefits of reaching the Playoffs and a home court advantage, with extra time for preparation.

“We’re going to go doorstep to doorstep in the sense of leaving Perth, arriving back in Cairns. It’s going to take us about 10 and a half hours, so there’s no deposits made there,” Forde said.

“Even with home court, we’re going to spend more time flying than recovering and training.

“To finish top two, it just gives you a little bit more of those deposits, especially in terms of preparation on-court.”