Tai shoots Breakers over Taipans in Rotorua

The New Zealand Breakers lifted the roof off Energy Events Centre in Rotorua with a morale-boosting 84-78 win over the Cairns Taipans on Wednesday.

It has been a season to forget for the Breakers, stuck on the road in Australia because of COVID-19, experiencing a raft of roster reshuffles and ultimately crashing out of finals contention.

But it has been a rare week of joy with this win complemented by the signing of rising French superstar Ousmane Dieng as a Next Star for the 2021/22 season.

With just two minutes remaining on the clock and the Snakes trailing by five points, Majok Deng buried a crucial three-pointer to set up a tense finish.

The Breakers were scrambling to find the bucket they desperately needed and got two Colton Iverson offensive rebounds to get their chance. In the end the Taipans fouled Iverson and he could only make one of two free throws as the game entered its final minute.

Scott Machado hit his free throws to make it a one-point game but Tai Webster all-but sealed the result with his seventh triple of the night. The Kiwi star had a night to remember with 23 points including 7/8 from beyond the arc, with five rebounds and three assists to boot.

Iverson had an enormous night with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Corey Webster had 16 points and five assists. It was a strong team effort at home with import Levi Randolph (11 points, two assists) and Finn Delany (10 points, five rebounds, three assists) all chiming in.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir wasn't doing cartwheels over succeeding in an "unusual" game, but was thankful they could give the fans something to cheer about.

"We weren't extremely impressive this whole season. We all have to take the circumstances into consideration and also look in the mirror," Shamir said. 

"At the least, this game was important. We played in front of a full house, a lot of good people came to watch the game. We were not great with it, it was not too sophisticated, it was more about being professional to the end. It was very important that the team got it done."

Scott Machado tried to haul the Snakes home on his own back with 21 points, 10 assists and five rebounds while Nate Jawai had 14 points and eight boards and Major Deng had 11 points, but ultimately having just nine available players in Mike Kelly's last game at the helm was tough to overcome.

It was a tough pill to swallow for outgoing coach Mike Kelly, who was cut from the Taipans as head coach moving forward.

"There was a not a lot of sweet in it. We lost the game and I got fired. Bitter? A little bit," Kelly said.

"But we focused on what we could do as a team, and the guys gave a great effort with nine players."

Kelly thanked the shopping list of players that did not make the trip for various reasons, including injury and NBA opportunity in the case of Cam Oliver. He took pause to thank the people of Cairns and his family. He will take some time now to consider his future.

"Talking about the plan moving forward, I don't know what the plan is," he said.

"I know that God does, so I will leave it in his hands. I do my job as best as I can, and I will be in basketball somewhere coaching."

Machado also paid credit to his coach and admitted he felt partially responsible for the results this season.

"He gave me the opportunity to be here in Australia, he trusted me with the ball and to be a leader," he said.

"This is how the business goes, and I feel like I failed him a little bit, but to be positive, he gave me my chance out there."

New Zealand Tall Black Jordan Ngatai was enjoying his return to his home country, splashing early triples to inject himself straight into the game.

But it was the Breakers who stole the early ascendency, at one point storming out to a 12-point lead on their way to a 25-16 quarter-time lead.

Any thoughts that the Taipans would roll over and surrender were quickly dashed in the second quarter as they quickly flipped the script on the Breakers. A 9-2 run including triples from Machado and Jarrod Kenny snapped the margin back to just two points, leading to a Dan Shamir time out.

Jawai finished off the half from the free-throw line which allowed his side to nudge ahead 42-41 at the main break.

The Taipans lockdown defence continued to suffocate New Zealand who were held to just 14 points in the third quarter, their chances of another home win slipping away.

It quickly turned into real danger as the Snakes pushed out to an eight-point lead in the final term, but the Tai Webster shooting spree was enough to turn the tables once more and hand his side a morale-boosting win in their penultimate game of the season.

Adding literal injury to insult, Ngatai hobbled off court with a suspected leg injury in the final minutes.

The Breakers will now host the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday while the off-season soul searching begins now for the Taipans, who crashed from being finalists to securing eight wins in the extended #NBL21 season and are on the hunt for a new coach.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 21

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 84 (T Webster 23, C Webster 16, Iverson 15)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 78 (Machado 21, Jawai 14, Deng 11) 

BOX SCORE