Snake Eyes – Taipans v 36ers

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans will breathe a huge sigh of relief to get back in front of the Orange Army for the first time in seven weeks on Sunday but they take on an Adelaide 36ers equally in need of a drought breaking victory.

The Taipans won their last game at home at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena against the New Zealand Breakers back on February 8, but they haven't played in front of the Orange Army since.

It hasn’t been the time away from home the Snakes were after having won just two of the 10 games and now entering Sunday's game with Adelaide on a five-game losing streak.

Along the way, the Taipans have lost two of their starters and most important players Majok Deng and Kouat Noi, but the form hasn’t been as bad as the end results suggest in recent weeks.

So the Taipans will look to build on those encouraging signs they were starting to build on the road, then build on the energy of being back home and playing in front of the home fans to return to the winner's list at the expense of the Sixers.

Here are five things to look out for:

1. HOME SWEET HOME
The Cairns Taipans have played 10 road games since last appearing in front of the Orange Army so it's fair to say they are looking forward to returning on Sunday

The Cairns Taipans got to enjoy the comforts of home during the early parts of the NBL season but it's now been a long seven weeks in between matches at the Pop-Up Arena.

The Snakes opened up #NBL21 with seven of their opening eight matches all at home in front of the Orange Army, and they did bid farewell with a last up 84-69 win over the New Zealand Breakers back on February 8.

From there, the Taipans went into the NBL Cup after their Round 5 game with Melbourne United in Bendigo didn’t eventuate, and during those four weeks with a game against every opposing club, the Taipans went 2-6.

Following that month in Melbourne, the Taipans couldn’t yet come home instead their reward was road games inside three days of each other across opposite sides of the country against last year's Grand Final teams.

While Friday night in Perth was an 18-point loss to the Wildcats, the Taipans fought harder and showed more encouraging signs than the final margin suggests. 

Then Sunday in Sydney against the Kings, it was a real case of a win slipping through the fingers of the Snakes before ending up losing by two points.

So the five-game losing streak the Taipans return home doesn’t tell the full story of the form the team is showing, and now superstar point guard Scott Machado can't wait to play another home game on Sunday against Adelaide.

"I am looking forward to being back home," Machado said. 

"It feels like we were on the road for 15 weeks by the end of that game on Sunday so I was ready to come back home. It's been a tough road trip for us and I'm happy to be going back home and playing in front of our fans again."

2. PLAYERS MUST BELIEVE MORE IN THEMSELVES
In a lot of ways the last six games the Taipans have played have shown a lot of encouraging signs, but sometimes having that self-belief to make shots and win games is significant

The Cairns Taipans might have won just one of their last six games, but really for the most part the response to a couple of 20-point losses at the NBL Cup has been six solid performances.

The problem has been a bit of a lack of confidence in self-belief in what the team can produce from within.

Coach Mike Kelly has noticed that as the losses have started to mount and while he still has full faith in what his playing group is capable of, he needs his players to fully buy into that and believe that themselves.

Things were looking a little dire during the NBL Cup when the Snakes lost consecutive 20-point games to the Perth Wildcats and Brisbane Bullets, but they have played significantly better basketball since then even if the wins haven’t been coming their way.

The immediate response to those two big losses was a tremendous win at the NBL Cup over the Sydney Kings before competitive and frustrating losses to the Adelaide 36ers, New Zealand Breakers and South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Then even last weekend against the Wildcats and Kings, the fight shown from the Taipans showed some better signs including some shots starting to fall on Sunday against Sydney.

Kelly has always remained confident that this Taipans team can get rolling if they continue to stay on task, and now he just wants his players to believe in themselves a bit more.

"I think it gave the guys confidence and it always feels good when you see the ball go through the hoop," Kelly said.

"I was more worried about the defensive end in the first half and I think eventually we're going to knock down shots with regularity, or more consistently.

"I think I believe that more than the guys do at times but I do think as a group things like that make you feel good or at least more confident going forward."

3. ANOTHER MAN DOWN JUST CREATES OPPORTUNITY
Losing Kouat Noi with Majok Deng already sidelined is hardly ideal for the Cains Taipans, but what it does do is provide opportunity for others to show what they are capable of

What the Cairns Taipans couldn’t afford right now was another important player to go down, but it's happened and now they just have to adjust to life without Kouat Noi.

Noi delivered 12 first half points last Friday night in Perth and he's already produced a 27-point game this season so his absence will be tough to cover as he spends up to 12 weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury.

With Majok Deng still in the middle of his rehabilitation from an ankle injury, there's no hiding from the fact that life has got tougher for the Taipans given Deng and Noi are averaging a combined 21.3 points and 9.4 rebounds a game.

But that is out of everyone's control. Noi and Deng are unavailable and that's going to be the case for some time so the Taipans just have to find a way to make it work in their absence, and there's still enough talent in the group to do that.

The immediate impact it has is that it means Mirko Djeric, Mojave King, Jordan Ngatai and Jarrod Kenny all have to pick up the minutes and production that Noi was delivering, but it can also present some opportunities for George Blagojevic, Tad Dufelmeier and Jordan Hunt.

While not ideal, Kelly will make the most of the situation and is looking at it with the positives of the opportunities it provides for others.

"Especially those wings and Jordan Ngatai has been stepping up and playing big minutes for us," Kelly said.

"There's Mirko, JK and Mojave who we'll be look at to step up more and George as well at the three and the four spot is something he's already been doing for us with Majok going down. 

"We also have our development players Tad Dufelmeier and Jordan Hunt who are ready to play so there may be some more opportunity there for them as well with Kouat out."

4. MAESTRO REMAINS CONFIDENT
Cairns point guard Scott Machado remains confident that this group can turn this season around and with 18 games remaining, they do have time on their side

Scott Machado signed on with the Cairns Taipans for two years because of the faith and confidence he had in his team, and that hasn’t dissipated despite the challenging first half of the 2021 season.

There's no denying the increased physical attention Machado has been receiving this season by opposition teams. He has clearly been earmarked as the man that teams have decided must be hounded to try to diminish his influence at the Taipans, but he hasn’t let it deter him.

He is still delivering an impressive 17.9 points, 7.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds a game this season despite all the attention he's receiving, and he put up another big performance last Sunday in Sydney with 21 points, nine assists and four rebounds.

Sunday could present the chance for Machado to have a big performance against the 36ers as well given they are without regular starting point guard Josh Giddey, but really he's worried about the team performance.

The signs have been better of late, but the Snakes can't quite put together four quarters of the basketball they need to play. That's been the biggest thing stopping the wins eventuated and Machado is hoping that can change come Sunday against the 36ers.

"I do have the confidence in what we should do as a team and it's something that is building within us, and we're just trying to be more consistent day in and day out with both defence and offence," Machado said. 

"Holding a team like Sydney to 75 points was good but we still have some mishaps that we have to keep tidying up."

5. SIXERS FACING MANY OF THE SAME CHALLENGES
The Adelaide 36ers come to Cairns on their own losing streak and without three usual starters for Sunday's contest at the pop-up

The Cairns Taipans come into Sunday's game on a five-game losing streak and without starters Majok Deng and Kouat Noi, but the Adelaide 36ers have their own tale of woe.

The Sixers are on their own four-game losing streak and they will be playing Sunday's game without starting centre Isaac Humphries, his replacement Keanu Pinder and NBL Next Star and starting point guard Josh Giddey.

Between Humphries, Giddey and Pinder, that's taking away an average of 29.1 points, 17.7 rebounds and 8.1 assists a game so the 36ers are going to have to do some work to make up for that with their remaining playing group.

The 36ers do still have Daniel Johnson who always seems to grow an extra leg playing against the Taipans. He had his career-high of 38 points last year against the Snakes, and he put up 30 points and nine rebounds in Adelaide's win against Cairns at the NBL Cup.

New Adelaide import Brandon Paul looks capable of being a man that could hurt the Taipans if they don't do all they could to put the clamps on him as well.

Then Tony Crocker, Sunday Dech, Jack McVeigh, Daniel Dillon, Brendan Teys, Jack Purchase and Alex Mudronja are all players the Taipans can't afford to take lightly.

So on a four-game losing streak and missing three important players, the Sixers might not be feeling on top of the world making the trip to Cairns for Sunday's game but it's now up to the Taipans to make sure they don't start to feel better about themselves early in the game to build some confidence.