Taipans Problems "100 per Cent Fixable": Forde

It speaks volumes about the evenness of the NBL that the top two sides on the ladder are now each on a two-game losing streak as we careen closer to the finals.

Cairns’ loss to South East Melbourne on Wednesday night saw the Taipans drop their second consecutive game after a six game win streak – with the night further soured by a nasty looking face injury to star centre Keanu Pinder.

The Phoenix pulled away from the arm wrestle in the final quarter and were inspired by a number of clutch plays from MVP candidate Mitch Creek.

Taipans head coach Adam Forde believes poor decision from his team decided the result.

“I think we let ourselves down a lot,” Forde said post-game. “I think we made some really bad mental lapses at the wrong time of the game throughout, and I thought we played a little bit frustrated.

“You look at the stats and the one that jumps out the most is we only had five assists at half time. That shows a lack of ball movement on our part – it’s the second game in a week now where the ball’s not moving around the floor as much as we’d like, and we’re doing it at the wrong time of the season.

“We’ll go back, reassess, and address some issues that need fixing up. As I’ve always said, everything that’s making us play bad basketball is 100 per cent fixable.

“[That’s] not to discredit what South East did – they were really good, really aggressive and got the ball to where they wanted to go.”

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DJ Hogg was at his imperious best throughout the game and finished with 24 points and two blocks, while Sam Waardenburg shot an efficient 6-8 from the field for the Taipans.

On the other hand, Shannon Scott – while immense defensively with four steals – missed all five of his field goal attempts, Bul Kuol made just one of eight three-point attempts, and Tahjere McCall shot just 31 per cent from two and had seven turnovers.

“The main thing with these guys is trying to pick their moment,” Forde said.

“We didn’t shoot well, we had some good looks that hit the back of the iron, we got to the foul line and had foul shots that didn’t drop.

“We forced it.

“There were a lot of times where it was just dribble attack and you’re not going to get results with that.

“You can still play with pace in the half-court, but where do you get your opportunities from?

“That’s something we need to navigate … we have to really lock in and finish out the season on the right note.”

Cairns host the Bullets on Saturday night before finishing off Round 17 with a clash against Adelaide on Monday.