Snakes storm home to open the pop-up as winners

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans had to play from behind but huge late shots from Kouat Noi and Scott Machado, and stifling defence was behind an NBL season-opening 87-86 win over the Sydney Kings at the Pop-Up Arena.

The Taipans were opening the NBL season for 2021 by playing a first ever game in Cairns outside of the Convention Centre, and it turned into a winning start at the Pop-Up Arena in a tremendous battle with the Grand Finalists of a season ago.

The Kings did lead for much of the contest, but the Taipans remained within touch and then with Cam Oliver imposing himself defensively as a rim protector that should have him favourite as Best Defensive Player, the Snakes gave themselves a sniff.

They still had some work to do trailing by five when Brad Newley hit a three with more than three minutes left to put the Kings up 84-79. 

But Noi drained a huge three, Machado then did the same and when Oliver hit two free-throws, the Snakes led by one and held on to win by that margin having held the Kings scoreless for the last two minutes including forcing Casper Ware to miss on the buzzer.

It was a tremendous start to the long-awaited new season for the Taipans in the new venue with plenty to like.

Last year's runner-up MVP Scott Machado was again terrific in a fascinating battle with Ware. Machado ended the night with a team-high 17 points to go with eight rebounds and eight assists as he flirted with a triple-double.

Mirko Djeric nailed four threes in the first half on his way to 15 points for the game while Majok Deng was especially important in the first half with 13 points and six rebounds.

Cam Oliver was limited by foul trouble and might have scored just 12 points on 3/10 shooting, but his all-round game was brilliant made up of his 11 rebounds and five massive blocks which was crucial in the eventual result.

Kouat Noi started on fire too and ended up with 12 points while Next Star Mojave King was impressive on debut with seven points and three rebounds.

Noi was proud of the team's performance to start off the new season on a winning note.

"It felt good to get the first win out of the way," Noi said.

"It was great to get the win and I also think we had a good game playing together. We now just want to continue to build and get better, and to get ready for Monday."

Fabijan Krslovic also had added four points, three rebounds and two steals for the Snakes with Jarrod Kenny adding three points, Nate Jawai three (three rebounds) and Jordan Ngatai one on debut.

Reigning NBL Coach of the Year Mike Kelly has no doubt having a stable group helped ensure the chemistry was strong on opening night.

"I feel like the continuity of having the guys back from last year, a lot of them, means that we do have some continuity and I think that helps our group," Kelly said.

"We didn’t play great basketball the whole game but we stayed together and the guys finished strongly down the stretch so I think it definitely helps."

It was Kouat Noi who knocked down a three ball to open the scoring for the season for Cairns and the next bucket was also a triple, this time from Mirko Djeric.

Cam Oliver started well too with early intimating defence and big shot block on top of scoring down low, and a second Noi three and Oliver bucket helped the Snakes to a 13-12 lead.

Sydney then caught fire briefly from downtown but two big threes from Scott Machado kept the Snakes close and limited Sydney's quarter-time lead to six.

Djeric then opened up the second quarter with a second three-pointer and when he then knocked down a second which was immediately backed up by Machado scores were all square with four minutes remaining in the half.

Oliver picking up a third foul wasn’t ideal, but Majok Deng took the bull by the horns and was brilliant closing out the half earning three trips to the line and scoring seven points in just over two minutes to help Cairns cut Sydney advantage to one at the break.

Oliver came back out to start the second half and immediately drained a three, but Sydney again worked its way back on top and did lead by six by three quarter-time on the back of an 8-0 run.

The Kings were still up five before Mojave King hit the first three-pointer of his NBL career to close the gap. But still when Sydney went on another 5-0 run, the visitors were up five with over three minutes left.

The Snakes, though, produced outstanding defence over that final three minutes and then up the other end, monstrous threes from Noi and Machado, and then two free-throws from Oliver saw them secure the one-point win on the back of Casper Ware missing a three on the buzzer for Sydney.

The Taipans are back in action again at the Pop-Up Arena on Monday night against The Hawks before a rematch with the Kings on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 1

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 87 (Machado 17, Djeric 15, Deng 13)

SYDNEY KINGS 86 (Ware 18, Vasiljevic 15, Newley 14) 

BOX SCORE