Guard Rob Edwards lifts the Cairns Taipans to their first win of the season
A fired up Rob Edwards brought the Cairns crowd to their feet during Taipans first home game of the season to claim their first win.
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A fired up Rob Edwards brought the Cairns crowd to their feet during Taipans first home game of the season to claim their first win.
The Taipans almost gave up a 15 point lead in the final term against the 36ers but managed to hang on thanks to Edwards (31 points) and captain Sam Waardenburg (21 points) leading the Taipans to a 101-97 victory.
Edwards called out the Cairns crowd earlier in the week to turn up as he was going to put on a show and the experienced guard did not disappoint.
Coach Adam Forde said his team showed plenty of fight against a tough opponent.
“I think a lot of it is run by energy,” Forde said.
“We made a lot of undisciplined errors in the first half and this is where I want to give credit to the boys because we had a great week in the film room understanding that when the momentum and energy went against us the bottom fell out.
“So when we made some errors, we addressed it at the time out, they were able to bring it back in their favour.
“And it was off the back of some great shooting but some real good team defence.
“That is what is important, if the shot is falling, great but if it isn’t then you have to win on the defensive end.
“I thought for the majority of the game we did good, Adelaide made some tough plays, some tough shots but we were able to weather the storm.”
The game’s leading scorer of the night shot 70 per cent from the field, to go with four assists and a steal.
A heavy knock between Edwards and former Taipan Lat Mayen with two and half minutes to go in the third quarter wasn’t enough to stop the experienced guard from putting on a second half show.
The Taipans almost doubled their dismal 29 per cent shooting from three point range against Illawarra in round 1 to 55 per cent on Saturday night.
Point guard Kyle Adnam showed no signs of his injury concern spending more than 50 per cent on the floor finishing with seven points, five assists including a textbook no-look pass to Kyrin Galloway early in the fourth quarter which sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
“The big difference I think and credit to Rob (Edwards) because we have really coached him up since Taran (Armstrong) went down to play a role that he is not used to,” Forde said.
“He is a scoring combo guard who likes to get on the wing.
“We have sort of thrown him into a different position for that balance but also I think the biggest contributor is sitting right next to me (Kyle Adnam).
“In a sense that it allowed that stability and then there is trust from Rob to know that the ball is going to come to him, it’s not terminal, it’s not just going to sit in one side the court.
“When it got swung and came back to Kyle and it comes back to Rob again, building that rapport and that trust and relationship really got fast-tracked in that game.
It was an explosive start to the final quarter for the Taipans after scores were tied 77 a-piece at the final break.
The Taipans were on a 17-2 run before the 36ers switched momentum back their way.
Adelaide’s Montrezl Harrell demanded the ball in the fourth as he tried to claw the 36ers back, looking to repeat his 12 points in nine minutes during the second quarter.
Harrell (20 points, five rebounds) and 36ers captain Dejan Vasilkevic (24 points, seven rebounds) were the shining lights for Adelaide.
Taipan Kyrin Galloway played his first game against his former team for the first time, finishing with 12 points, four rebounds.
While Mayen arrived at Cairns looking to silence the crowd, ended with eight points, seven rebounds.
Cairns will host last year’s premiers Tasmanian JackJumpers on Friday night while Adelaide will play their first home game of the season on Thursday night against South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Edwards walked the walk
Rob Edwards called out the Orange Army last week, telling them “the louder they are the harder I play.”
The crowd turned up on Saturday night and was not disappointed as Edwards lifted the Taipans to their first win of the season with a massive 31-points.
Edwards came up big in the final moments of the game when the 36ers closed in on an unlikely comeback after being down by 15 points midway through the fourth quarter.
The powerful guard step backed beyond the arc to drain a three pointer to put an end to the 10-0 run for the 36ers and put them up by six points with 55 seconds left.
He would later put the game out of reach by hitting one of two free throws to claim a 101-97 win.
Hail captain Sam
After a horrible display on the boards in the Taipans round 1 loss to Illawarra, Cairns captain Sam Waardenburg made it his mission to even the ledger against 36ers.
In round 1, the Taipans gave up 53 rebounds compared to making 37 themselves.
Against the 36ers, they closed they gap, finishing with 36 while Adelaide had just 43.
Waardenburg finished with a game high 11 rebounds, all defensive with the captain throwing his teammates on his back.
To go with his defensive display, Waardenburg dropped 21 points, four assists and three blocks to help guide his side to a four point victory at home.
Off the bench
The Adelaide 36ers scored a massive 43 points off the bench in Saturday nights loss to the Taipans, falling just shy of 50 per cent.
It was largely thanks to Montrezl Harrell who had periods of domination throughout the game, including a 12 point, nine minute segment during a second quarter blitz by the power forward.
He returned in the fourth quarter and led the fight back for the 36ers who were pulling back a 15 point lead.
Harrell finished with 20 points, five rounds, three assists, one steal and one block from his 21 minutes of game time.
Three-point shootout
Adam Forde said his side worked on their three point shooting during the week leading into the game with the 36ers and it was on full display on Saturday night.
The Taipans drained 15 from 29 three pointers, six from eight came from Rob Edwards.
But it was the 36ers who matched them throughout the night from beyond the arc, finishing with 12 from 26 themselves, with captain Dejan Vasiljevic finishing with four from eight.
During periods in the second and third quarter, both the Taipans and 36ers put on a display where shooting from beyond the arc looked like it was as simple as making a free throw.
Forde said in the press conference that it was the ability his side did to give each other open looks.
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