Taipans stunned at home again showing road victories do not guarantee home court success
The Cairns Taipans have been dominant on the road and came back to Cairns on Sunday hoping to replicate their victorious efforts in front of home fans. Here’s how it went down.
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The Cairns Taipans entered Sunday’s game having proved themselves the NBL’s 2022/23 road warriors after dethroning the Kings and dividing Melbourne on their respective home courts.
To solidify themselves as the deserved top of the table team, they needed to answer the question on fans’ lips: could they bring that success home to Cairns.
But New Zealand became the Far North’s heart breakers as they triumphed 68-64 after a composed comeback, led by captain Barry Brown Jr, in the second half.
Breakers’ coach Mody Maor said his team “gave it everything they had” to secure the victory.
“We’ve played four games in nine days. I think we’ve felt the weight of that load … we needed a little bit of a shake up, and my guys responded,” Maor said.
Early Taipans’ pressure equalled early scoreboard success as the snakes built a quick ten point lead, largely credited to forward DJ Hogg who scored seven points in even fewer minutes.
The Breakers repeatedly failed to curtail the snakes’ attack and didn’t make a breakthrough of their own until a personal foul by Taipans’ guard Ben Ayre gave Brown Jr a point from a free throw in the eighth minute.
Hogg’s 11 points and Keanu Pinder’s four rebounds and a steal told the story of the first quarter as Cairns led 16-5 at the first break.
The second quarter began as a more even affair; the Breakers reduced the deficit to four points through some calmer attack.
The Taipans offence looked frustrated by several missed opportunities as their free throw accuracy slipped from 75 per cent in the first quarter to 58 after the second.
“There were a lot of errors that we made,” Taipans’ coach Adam Forde said.
“With this young group … you start to see some guys start to lose a bit of confidence.
“Some guys shied away from the moment a bit, and I don’t want them to.”
Some late brilliance by Hogg and fellow forward Mejok Deng made sure the first quarter effort wasn’t completely undone – the snakes led by nine at half time.
The Breakers had clearly had enough of the Taipans’ persistent defence inside the arc and began banging down triples to again reduce the deficit to four points three minutes into the second half.
A stiff bump on Taipans’ forward Sam Waardenburg’s arm gave the Taipans’ coach a convenient chance to try out his new forward Lat Mayen, whose five-minute stint earned the coach’s praise.
“I was going deep into the bench, trying to find something that was the x factor. Lat got out there and he was great … I thought he did a great job on debut.”
The Breakers’ comeback continued in the final quarter as a triple by guard Rayan Rupert earned them their first lead of the game with six minutes remaining.
Despite valiant efforts by Hogg and Taipans’ captain Shannon Scott to wrestle the lead back, it wasn’t enough to give the 4091 home fans the win they were so desperately screaming to see. Brown Jr was simply too accurate from the free throw line, making four inside the final minute.
The Cairns’ fans will have to wait for a rematch with the breakers on November 25.
Ball Hogg
Taipans’ forward DJ Hogg’s 25 points, including seven in the final five minutes, and five rebounds showed he was the man leading the home team’s efforts at both ends of the game.
Forde said Hogg’s energy made him a magnet for the ball, but it didn’t lift the team’s efforts in the end.
“We got him easy points,” Forde said.
“In the fourth quarter, there was a chance to take the lead and we gave the ball to D.J, but then everyone just stood there … we gave the ball to D.J and said ‘bail us out of it’ … that’s not how we go about it.”
Breaking even
New Zealand demonstrated they were the far more varied team in offence, sharing the points between Brown Jr (24), Jarrell Brantley (13) and Izayah Le’Afa (11).
Maor said no member of his team steps onto the court with an agenda for individual brilliance.
“I cannot stress how big of a challenge it is to play under a schedule like this and perform against a great team like Cairns … our guys just rocked a new level of toughness.”
Threes in the third
If there was a clear turning point in the game, it was the Breaker’s accuracy outside the arc in the third quarter that doused the home team’s fire. Their triple accuracy jumped from 5.9 per cent after the second quarter to 20 per cent after the third, and continued to make the difference in the fourth.
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