Game Preview: Taipans v 36ers

After both teams competed on Friday night, they’ve had to make the trek to Far North Queensland across Saturday ahead of their battle – Cairns from Brisbane, and Adelaide from Perth – as they suit up less than 48 hours since their last fixtures.

Where and When

Sunday, January 19 at the Cairns Convention Centre (3:30pm AEST)

How to Follow

Watch: Live on 10 Bold and ESPN

Live Updates: Taipans X

Stats: Box Score

What’s Already Happened

Their Last Battle: Cairns Taipans (93) v Adelaide 36ers (99) in Round 13

Returning home after a successful Summer Shootout game which sees them lead the competition, the Taipans will be looking to repeat their win against a travel-worn 36ers lineup.

Despite allowing 15 more rebounds than they pulled down themselves – most of which were on the offensive end – Cairns made their chances count, shooting the ball 23% better than their Queensland rivals.

This efficiency was of particular note for Rob Edwards (35 points at 65% from the field), Tanner Groves (17 points at 75%) and AK Gak (7 points at 100%), with the Taipans able to grab an early lead whilst the Bullets struggled to tick the scoreboard over.

Their perimeter scoring helped push the margin wider and wider, with the side putting up 16 triples across the night – stretching their streak of 8+ three-pointer games to 14 games, with Edwards hitting seven of his own.

EDWARDS ICE COLD IN THE SUMMER SHOOTOUT 🥶

📲 @cairnstaipans | 📺 @ESPNAusNZ pic.twitter.com/TaPWCIjQjL

— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) January 17, 2025

Cairns’ ball handling was also put on display, with the side allowing five turnovers across the night – none of them by guards – whilst capitalizing on Brisbane’s lack of control to score 19 points off turnovers.

They’ll host a 36ers lineup that has made the difficult trek from Perth to Cairns, to visit a venue that they’ve only won at once across their list nine visits – a three-point win in 2023.

Sitting two wins outside sixth spot on the ladder, Adelaide will be landing in the tropics eyeing a late season push for a play-in spot, especially after coming only seven points short in Perth where a costly second quarter saw them fall behind.

Putting up 31 points on the night, Kendric Davis lead their efforts on the offensive end with 10 assists handing him a double-double, however he will be returning to a venue where he was only able to put up 14 points in Round 2, when he shot the ball at 29%.

On that night Dejan Vasiljevic and Montrell Harrell combined for 44 points to give them a four-point win, however have been operating with little backup during their road trip.

Operating with only three bench players, the 36ers who hit the court averaged 25 minutes of action in their Friday night fixture, and only time will tell for how well they will prepare for their battle against the Taipans.

Player to Watch

Despite only contributing one field goal in Cairns’ win in Brisbane, Kyrin Galloway still made major contributions to his side. Finishing with a plus/minus of +23 – the equal second highest by a Taipan on the night and a career best performance for Galloway – as well as four rebounds, two assists, three steals and four blocks. With his steal and block performance also career highs, the forward will be looking to continue his strong run of form, with his impressive performances earning him the most court time that he’s seen in his NBL career.

Facing Lat Mayen who made the opposite offseason move to him and has struggled to match his performances as a Taipan since moving to South Australia, Galloway will relish the opportunity to guard the fellow forward. Struggling to reach double digits despite regularly seeing more than 25 minutes of action per game, the 36er has struggled to find his rhythm – only hitting more than 50% of his shots six times out of 22 game this season.

What's Been Said

Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde:

“We’ve sort of let our home fan base down. We haven’t performed very well at home – we actually probably do a little better on the road – but I feel like more than anything, I think we owe it more to our fan base to get a win and let them also enjoy this experience.

“Obviously we’re not play-in position, but we are playing for pride, and the guys showed up and played for four quarter – it was a bit shaky in the third – but as I have been all season, I’m proud of the group.

“It’s a long road trip for Adelaide. They’re playing right now, and then they’ve got to venture across the county to play us, and it’ll be our fourth game in what feels like as many days, but they’re a team that’s going to be desperate and hungry.”

Taipans guard Rob Edwards:

“I’d let Fordey coach me for the rest of my career. We have our moments, but for the most part he allows me to come here and to play free, and that’s all that I can ask for in a Coach.

“I think that we just came together as a team, and we know how many games we have left and how many practices we have left, and we went ‘How do you want to go out, do we just want to keep on losing or do we want to at least go out with a bang’, so I think that was most of our motivation.

“We decided that everybody who stepped out there was just going to play free – don’t worry about making mistakes, and just do what you can to make the squad.”

The Lineups

Taipans

PG – Taran Armstrong / Kyle Adnam

SG – Rob Edwards / Jonah Antonio

SF – Pedro Bradshaw / Kyrin Galloway / Alex Higgins-Titsha

PF – Sam Waardenburg / AK Gak

C – Tanner Groves / Dillon Stith

36ers

PG – Kendric Davis / Jason Cadee / Keanu Rasmussen

SG – Dejan Vasiljevic / Sunday Dech

SF – Lat Mayen / Nick Marshall / Jacob Rigoni

PF – Montrezl Harrell / Jarrell Martin

C – Isaac Humphries / Beb Griscit

Ins and Outs 

Taipans

Ins – Alex Higgins-Titsha, Kody Stattmann

36ers

No changes listed