How the Taipans overturned deficit to beat the Hawks

Machado kept Cairns in the fight before the squad stepped up to ground the Hawks, and give coach Mike Kelly plenty to like ahead a clash with Melbourne United.

SCOTT Machado set the court on the fire as the Taipans overturned a 12-point deficit to beat Illawarra Hawks 101-95 to start the NBL Cup with a win ahead of a clash with the wounded championship favourites.

Machado finished with 31 points at 52 per cent from the field, hitting four-from-seven from range, grabbed eight rebounds, and had six assists and a steal in what became an outstanding day for the Snakes.

Scott Machado. (Photo by Martin Keep/Getty Images)

Sitting on the wrong end of a 12-point margin midway through the third quarter, the Taipans were in danger of letting the Hawks earn what would have been their third win against Cairns this NBL season.

Machado kept Cairns in the fight before the squad stepped up to ground the Hawks, and give coach Mike Kelly plenty to like ahead of tonight’s clash with Melbourne United, who suffered their first loss of the NBL campaign against the Perth Wildcats.

MORE BASKETBALL COVERAGE

Machado Show on song as Taipans claim NBL Cup-opening win

Why Williams is considered a rising star of Australian basketball coaches

How Corey ‘Homicide’ Williams earnt his nickname

Melbourne Utd are battling an injury crisis, providing the Snakes’ a prime opportunity to seal a third successive win and keep the momentum rolling.

They showed a real fight to turn the tables on the Hawks on Saturday.

When it seemed as Illawarra would pull away, the Taipans pulled themselves together, started hitting shots and making plays at both ends to overcame the high-flying Hawks.

Scott Machado of the Taipans. (Photo by Martin Keep/Getty Images)

“A lot of the stuff you guys don’t hear happening in practice was happening then,” Machado said. “And the communication level has been getting better and better between us.

“We needed to get the bickering out … so each person knew what they needed to do better.

“You guys can’t hear it but we just made sure we were all together and we had to stay together.”

The Taipans landed an NBL season-high 18 three-pointers on their way to a third win of the season, and arguably most important ahead of the hectic NBL Cup schedule.

Jordan Ngatai produced his best performance in orange as he scored 17 points, which featured five-from-seven from range, one of which was a key bucket from beyond the logo as the halftime buzzer sounded to close the deficit to five points.

Majok Deng (16pts, 6rebs), Mirko Djeric (14pts, 5 assists) and Cameron Oliver (13pts, 8rebs, two blocks and a steal) were all strong in the Snakes’ best performance this season.

Coach Mike Kelly was stoked with his squad, but the focus switched straight to Monday’s clash with an injury-depleted Melbourne United outfit which dropped their first game of the campaign to the Perth Wildcats.

“Very stoked to get a win against a really good team that’s been playing well,” coach Mike Kelly said.

“We’re more thinking about ourselves, and I thought the guys, even when Illawarra were making shots and we were struggling, especially in that first half, the guys stayed with it.

“Through the third quarter where they got up 12 … we’ve been talking about how we react to situations like that. Whether we’re up 12 or down 12, and I thought the guys played through that really well then we started to make shots and it felt great and they felt great.”

Follow @MMcInerney89

Originally published as How the Taipans overturned deficit to beat the Hawks