Snake Eyes – Taipans vs Phoenix

Not a lot might have gone right for the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans this season, but getting an extra couple of games at the Pop-Up Arena to finish off with might just be the bonus the Snakes were craving.

The Taipans had been expecting Wednesday night's game in celebration of Indigenous Round would be the last time they got to play at the Pop-Up Arena, and indeed for the Orange Army for the #NBL21 season.

A terrific crowd turned out for the occasion too to support the Snakes and the team put in a strong showing to only narrowly come up short against a Brisbane Bullets team that just had to win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

But there is some good news for the Cairns basketball community with the announcement of two more games in town this around starting on Friday night against the South East Melbourne Phoenix, and then on Monday against Melbourne United.

Now they are likely the two form teams of the competition so it's not going to be easy for the Taipans to snap the losing streak, but with the local fans behind them, anything is possible and here are five things to watch for heading into the Phoenix Friday clash:

1. SINCE THE LAST TIME
The last meeting between the two teams was a night to forget in Melbourne for the Taipans, but they have played better since and could get the ultimate revenge now on the Phoenix

It was only a couple of weeks ago since the Phoenix hammered the Taipans in Melbourne, and South East Melbourne has been able to build on that momentum while Cairns has been vastly more competitive since as well.

That 29-point win for the Phoenix was their second win in succession and they have now turned that into a four-game winning run to have all but locked in a playoff position in just the second season in franchise history.

For the Taipans, it was part of a losing slide that has now stretched to eight games but they have responded since that performance and they needed to.

While the Snakes are now on an eight-game losing streak coming into Friday night, their form has been significantly better since their 29-point loss to the Phoenix in Melbourne a fortnight ago.

They put in a couple of competitive efforts at home and away to the Perth Wildcats, they battled hard in Wollongong against the Illawarra Hawks and then had a chance to tie scores up late in the game on Wednesday at home to the Bullets.

With Nate Jawai tough to stop down low, Mojave King finding his best form of the season, Scott Machado back to his best running the show and Tad Dufelmeier, Mirko Djeric, Jordan Ngatai, Majok Deng, George Blagojevic and Venky Jois all contributing, it's a team the Phoenix can't sleep on.

South East Melbourne arrives in Cairns on their own four-game winning streak but the change in schedule to now jump on a plane to head to Far North Queensland when they had been expecting a home game is a little spanner in the works.

However, the Phoenix haven’t played since beating the Bullets on Saturday which saw them improve to that four-game winning streak and to an 18-14 record on the season to remain in third position.

With four matches to go, that third position is certainly South East Melbourne's to lose and even should they finish on the same record as one of the teams now beneath them, they should still claim that third position thanks to their superior percentage.

2. FIRST BONUS OF #NBL21 FOR ORANGE ARMY
It has been quite the rollercoaster ride for the Taipans in #NBL21 and it's fair to say not a lot has gone right, but getting a couple of bonus games in Cairns is a nice treat to come at the end of the season

This game was originally scheduled for Saturday in Melbourne but has been moved to Cairns on Friday, and that could give the Snakes a real sniff of an upset and to snap their losing run.

The Taipans had been expecting Wednesday night's game at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena against the Brisbane Bullets to be their last at home of the season, but now they will host the Phoenix on Friday and Melbourne United on Monday in front of their home fans.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly has been grateful that Cairns was able to come up with the Pop-Up Arena for this season as a home base with the redevelopments happening at the Convention Centre, and he's happy to now get two more unexpected home games to look forward to. 

"This has been great, great to be able to have a place to play in Cairns and call it home even if it is short lived. We haven’t won a lot of games here so I won't miss that but the fans have embraced it, we had our home floor down there and it has felt like home," Kelly said.

"I know everyone in Australia wants no more cases so I hope everything goes in the right direction down in Melbourne, but for us it's kind of nice that we get to sleep in our own beds a couple more nights and play a couple more games in our own place."

3. NEXT STAR SHOWS POTENTIAL
Taipans coach Mike Kelly was as happy for Mojave King as anybody to see him deliver the best all-round performance of his NBL career to date on the back of the work he's been putting in

Much of the talk coming out of Wednesday's game for the Taipans against the Bullets was the career-best showing of Mojave King, and his coach was as impressed as anybody.

There were high expectations on what King could provide for the Taipans this season as the club's first Next Star signing, and the 18-year-old has shown encouraging signs of what the future holds for him.

Seen by many as a young man destined to get a chance in the NBA at some point and also to become a regular Australian Boomers representative, he has developed nicely the longer this season has gone on with the Taipans and worked tremendously hard on his all-round game.

Coach Mike Kelly has seen all of that and has worked closely with King along the way, and was as delighted as anyone to see him put up 25 points in the best performance of his NBL career on Wednesday night against the Brisbane Bullets.

"He came out ready and was really good. It was great to see him knock down shots and attack the rim, he did a great job. It's really a result of him getting open in what we're doing," Kelly said.

"We'll occasionally run something to get Mo into a position to score whether it's attacking the basket or feeding Nate. He seems to space out well then and they seem to have something going there for Nate to get the ball back out to him. This is Mo getting better and playing 29 minutes, and taking the opportunity and making shots. 

"It's not surprising that he got shots and that he knocked them down, it's just the most he's played and shot the ball, and shot the ball well. The other end he's making a progression as well to learn to defend and knowing the personnel on the other side. It's about stepping up to be physical defensively and it's been a great progression to watch, and he'll keep getting better like that."

4. ALL EYES ON POINT GUARD BATTLE
Scott Machado is right back to his best for the Cairns Taipans but Keifer Sykes is in hot form himself for the South East Melbourne Phoenix setting the tone for a cracking point guard contest

With Scott Machado back to his very best form in recent weeks for the Cairns Taipans and Keifer Sykes firing for the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Friday night should provide quite the fascinating battle between the import point guards.

Machado is going to find the going tough with Sykes up in his grill the entire game, but right now the runner-up MVP and All-First NBL Team member from last season is right back to some of his best form. 

It has been a challenging season for Machado and the Taipans, but over his last four games he's delivering 17.0 points, 8.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 23/53 from the floor at 44 per cent and 9/22 at 41 per cent from downtown. 

Another strong performance from him and the Taipans could very well snap their losing slide.

However, it's no coincidence that the Phoenix's impressive form of late has coincided with his return to the line-up. Not only is he putting up impressive offensively numbers with 18.3 points and 4.8 assists over this current four-game winning streak, but his defence has been sensational. 

That was most evidenced against Nathan Sobey and the Brisbane Bullets last Saturday, but if he can keep scoring and distributing on Friday against Cairns, and shut down Scott Machado in the process, the Phoenix will be tough to beat.

5. MOJAVE JUST WANTS TO DELIVER MORE
Mojave King was happy to put together such an impressive performance on Wednesday night, but now he just wants to keep trying to do more of the same to close out the season with a bang

Cairns' Next Star Mojave King put all of his talents on show against the Bullets on Wednesday night finishing with 25 points while shooting 9/15 from the field and 4/9 from three-point territory.

It was a good show of the work he has put in since arriving in Cairns and how much he has developed by being part of the Taipans organisation, and how ready he is to be able to have a significant impact on NBL matches.

He enjoyed the experience and wants to just keep on building whatever the future holds.

"I felt good. I was just trying to bring a lot of energy, run the lanes super hard and try to make the right plays offensively," King said. 

"Then my teammates were just finding me and thankfully I was able to knock down a few shots and get out and thrown down a few dunks as well. It was good to give the team a bit of a boost as well. 

"I'm not sure what my plans are yet, but I'm just going to keep working as hard as I can to be the best player I can be."