Wounded Taipans Put a Dagger Through Wildcats

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Only the next 24 hours will tell just how much it matters, but the Cairns Taipans produced perhaps their best win of NBL23 on Friday night at RAC Arena to beat the Perth Wildcats 84-71.

After losing at home to Adelaide on Monday night, Cairns' destiny of finishing second was no longer in their own hands.

Throw in the fact they were missing Keanu Pinder and Tahjere McCall, and were playing in front of 11,668 fans in The Jungle against a Wildcats team needing to win for their own playoff hopes, and things were stacked against the Snakes.

Nobody told that to Adam Forde and his men though. Forde was yet to record a victory as an NBL head coach against his hometown team coming into Friday night just to top things off.

What the Snakes did was put up the best first quarter of any visiting team in RAC Arena this season to lead 30-16. They were still up 12 at half-time and eight at three quarter-time even after TaShawn Thomas threatening to take charge in that third term for Perth.

The Taipans continued to have all the answers and six straight points from DJ Hogg midway through the fourth quarter before five from Shannon Scott were the perfect response when the 'Cats were trying to build momentum as they went on to win by 13.

It was a brilliant defensive performance from the Taipans with 51 rebounds to 40, including 16 to eight at the offensive end for 19 second chance points. They also scored 16 points from the 15 Perth turnovers and limited the 'Cats to shooting 35 per cent from the floor and 5/19 from deep.

It's Cairns' first win over Perth since Game 2 of the semi finals in 2020, Forde's first in his third season as a head coach and it means they will finish NBL23 with an 18-10 record.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Razzle Dazzle from Shannon Scott ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/1eUPrFheW8">pic.twitter.com/1eUPrFheW8</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1621482884690485250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

They will stay second and be straight into the semi finals unless New Zealand beats the Bullets in Brisbane on Saturday.

The Wildcats are now 14-13 and must beat the Sydney Kings at home on Sunday. By then they will know the scenario and what they need to do to knock out one of the Tasmania JackJumpers, South East Melbourne Phoenix, Melbourne United or the Adelaide 36ers depending on Saturday's games.

Bul Kuol ended up top-scoring for Cairns with 15 points to go with nine rebounds with Majok Deng delivering the first double-double of his 197-game NBL carer with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

DJ Hogg added 14 points and four boards, Ben Ayre 10 points and four rebounds, Shannon Scott nine points and four assists, and Sam Waardenburg nine points and seven rebounds.

Rightfully Taipans coach Adam Forde was delighted with the performance.

"We needed a bit of momentum and momentum means a couple of things, right," Forde said.

"Obviously the win because we've had our injuries and have been a bit hit and miss, but momentum also just for guys to get a bit of touch, to rotate into our bench and Jonah was great, Lat was great, Majok was great, so was Ben.

"Everyone stepped up off the bench. I feel like we talked a lot of boxes with that momentum. We can use that and hopefully now we just sit back and see what Brisbane can get done at their joint against New Zealand.

"And either we're preparing for a play-in Thursday or Friday next week or we have a bit of time off to rest some sore bodies."

Bryce Cotton had 28 points for Perth to go with 13 rebounds and seven assists. TaShawn Thomas had a big third quarter and finished with 23 points and seven rebounds with Brady Manek contributing 12 points.

But they just didn’t get enough contributors. Corey Webster had just two points on 1/6 shooting, Luke Travers two points on 1/7, Tai Webster one-point on 0/2 and captain Jesse Wagstaff one-point on 0/3.

Wildcats coach John Rillie is seeing a worrying trend early in games with his team's lack of ability to get on the glass, and when he sees that he knows it's going to be a long night.

"Our last three losses, there is certainly a trend with the way we've started the game and our application to rebounding," Rillie said.

"That was significant tonight and I think it was 17 to six in the first quarter. We just couldn’t get in the rhythm of the game and give them credit for doing a great job of controlling that part of the game.

"We did a good job of fighting back and bringing some life into it all, but maybe we spent too much energy in the tank. I just felt like we let the scoreboard dictate instead of just letting our play evolve through good play, and then the scoreboard takes care of itself when you're playing well."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You cannot leave the 3x Andrew Gaze MVP Award winner open like that ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/txcp3PsjIT">pic.twitter.com/txcp3PsjIT</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1621480890001166336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Taipans arrived in Perth minus Keanu Pinder and Mirko Djeric, and then Tahjere McCall was ruled out before the game, but it didn’t stop the visitors making a flying start.

DJ Hogg, Sam Waardenburg and Bul Kuol helped them to a 10-4 start before Bryce Cotton kept the Wildcats in a degree of touch.

However, the Snakes pulled away again outscoring the Wildcats 17-7 heading into quarter-time including a pair of late triples from Majok Deng. That saw Cairns up 30-16 to put the pressure back on the Wildcats who had to win.

Lat Mayen knocked down a three early in the second quarter as well as part of a 7-2 run for Cairns before a pair of threes from Brady Manek couldn’t have been more timely for Perth.

Manek knocked down a third but the Taipans maintained their double-digit lead all the way to half-time where they led 49-37 on the back of controlling the boards and shooting 48 per cent from the field opposed to 33 for Perth.

The Wildcats at least were getting to the line, shooting 11/12 free-throws to 3/4 for Cairns.

Perth needed to respond after the break and it was TaShawn Thomas who turned the tide. He had just six points points and three rebounds to half-time, but came out and made Perth's first five baskets of the third quarter to be tormenting the undersized and inexperienced Taipans inside.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hustle basketball ?<br>Deng gets the easy dunk after the offensive rebound!<br><br>? <a href="https://twitter.com/MajokDeng13?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MajokDeng13</a> | ? <a href="https://twitter.com/espn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@espn</a> <a href="https://t.co/BXsYmklqDX">pic.twitter.com/BXsYmklqDX</a></p>— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1621464775564615680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

When he also made two free-throws, he had almost single-handedly brought the 'Cats back within six points but the Taipans did well to respond with a 9-2 run. However, Perth did hit the last five of the third quarter with the Snakes clinging to a 64-56 advantage.

The same old problems continued to haunt the Wildcats though. Defensive lapses allowed Mayen to hit a three and then Jonah Antonio to score to put Cairns back on top 10 with eight minutes to go.

Scott pushed that Taipans lead out to 14, Deng pushed it to 16 and there would be no comeback with the Taipans winning in Perth for the first time since October 18, 2019.

The Taipans will now head home and await their play-in scenario while the Wildcats remain home to host the Sydney Kings in a must-win affair on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 18

PERTH WILDCATS 71 (Cotton 28, Thomas 23, Manek 12)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 84 (Kuol 15, Deng 14, Hogg 14)

BOX SCORE