NBL: Cairns Taipans dominate Brisbane Bullets in Sunshine Stoush
It was billed as the Sunshine Stoush, but the Cairns Taipans turned it into the Sunshine Smackdown as a committee of contributors put the Brisbane Bullets to the sword.
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Cairns hit Brisbane early, hard and often to steamroll their way to a 94-85 victory in the NBL’s first official ‘Sunshine Stoush’ tonight.
It was a demolition derby at the Cairns Convention Centre as the Taipans grabbed the lead after 69 seconds and never looked like letting go as they claimed their fourth win from the past six meetings with the Bullets.
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The Taipans were red-hot from the opening tip-off and raced to a commanding 16-3 lead over the ice-cold Bullets who threw up enough bricks in the early stages to build a retaining wall.
While Brisbane dragged the margin back to just four points at quarter-time, that was as close as they got as the Taipans continued to figuratively punch Brisbane in the mouth.
The Bullets closed to within eight points in the dying stages but it was far too little, far too late.
The Snakes led by 10 at halftime and 19 at three-quarter time to all but seal the win as Brisbane’s offence fired blanks while also committing 14 turnovers.
The Bullets finished with 27 field goals from 67 attempts.
Cairns looked after the ball better and had only seven turnovers while they shot at a slightly better clip than Brisbane.
Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis said Brisbane’s offence was “stagnant”, “muddled”, “bogged down” and needed “more zip”.
“We had some lay-ups that we missed and some open threes that we missed … the ball started to stick a little bit. We got on the backfoot (against a halfcourt trap) and it messed up our rhythm. Instead of attacking it and being aggressive, we were tentative,’’ he said.
Lemanis said the start of the first three quarters is what also killed Brisbane.
“They scored freely and we couldn’t get the ball in the hole. We need to start quarters with a better intent. That’s something we need to address,’’ he said.
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Kouat Noi (20 points, 10 rebounds), point guard Scott Machado (12 points, nine assists and three steals) and Nate Jawai (14 points, seven rebounds, three assists) were the best for the Taipans who were bitterly disappointed with their loss to Illawarra last week and bounced back strongly.
Cam Oliver (13 points, nine rebounds) and DJ Newbill (14 points) were also good for the Snakes.
Noi and Machado were the prime movers early while Jawai increasingly became a handful in the paint as the Snakes kept pounding the ball into him into the second term.
Brisbane repeatedly fouled the man mountain who got six of his eight second quarter points from the free throw line as Cairns took a 49-39 advantage into halftime.
Cairns coach Mike Kelly said the even spread of contributors, the low turnover count and the relentless nature of the victory pleased him most.
“We had some really good individual performances but I just thought the group stood up as a group and fought. It was just good to see the training week translate into a good game,’’ he said.
“We talked all week about doing the little things well and keeping that going every possession, fighting through every possession. And they did that. They were playing the right way.’’
For Brisbane, Nathan Sobey (20 points, seven assists and six rebounds) and Matt Hodgson (12 points, nine rebounds) battled away against the Orange Tsunami that overwhelmed the Bullets but received little support. Star import Lamar Patterson had a quiet night by his lofty standards with five points in the first three quarters before finishing with a flurry and 17 points. Jason Cadee had 13 points for Brisbane.
The Bullets (4-5) face Adelaide and Melbourne United next weekend and need to come away with at least one win to stay in touch with the top four.
They hope to have guard Cam Gliddon available after he missed last night’s loss with a back issue.
Cairns will host reigning champion Perth and will like their chances given their record-setting win over the Wildcats in WA earlier this season.
The cracks seriously started to open up when the Snakes scored the first eight points of the third quarter to open up a then game-high 18-point lead as a clunky Brisbane looked less poised and more desperate at the offensive end.
Originally published as NBL: Cairns Taipans dominate Brisbane Bullets in Sunshine Stoush