Machado's Snakes overpower Harvey's Hawks in dazzling opener

Point guards Scott Machado and Tyler Harvey gave fans a world-class duel to open the NBL Cup with Machado’s Cairns Taipans taking the 101-95 win outscoring the Illawarra Hawks 56 to 38 over the last 15 minutes.

Machado had 31 points, six assists and eight rebounds as he led his side back from 12 points down midway through the third quarter a victory while Harvey 24 points, five rebounds and five assists in what was the best possible start in terms of quality to the NBL Cup.

Harvey and NBA draft pick Justinian Jessup (17 points) burned for much of the match but were slowed by the Taipans in the final term as they made their run at the win at Melbourne's John Cain Arena.

The point guard battle was something to marvel at but this was a game for a couple of New Zealand Breakers teammates from last season to make their biggest ever marks on the NBL.

Jordan Ngatai is in his first season with the Taipans and started for the third straight game, and had the best game of his 67-game career with 17 points and four rebounds while going 5/7 from long range.

Deng Deng didn’t play a single minute last season at the Breakers but in his 27th NBL appearance, he just couldn’t miss for the Hawks putting up 17 points, five rebounds and two blocks.

The Taipans ended up going 18/35 as a team from three-point territory but at the other end of the spectrum, Deng Adel had a horror afternoon for the Hawks setting a new unwanted NBL record by missing all 15 of his field goal attempts. 

The Taipans desperately wanted a win to improve their ladder position but they also took six of the available seven points towards the inaugural NBL Cup with the Hawks taking one point for winning the second quarter.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly praised his players for their ability to work through the defensive issues which saw them fall behind.

"We are very stoked to get a win against a really good team who has been playing well," Kelly said.

"I thought the guys did well at making shots when we were struggling in the first half through to the third quarter where we went down 12.

"We have been talking about how we react to situations like that. The guys got through that really well then we started to make shots and it felt great and then the players felt great."

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian said his second unit had to do better and his side had to defend better.

"Giving up over 100 points and the second aspect of our team has been the bench and getting great contribution but tonight every time we went to them we went backwards," Goorjian said.

"First quarter we were up and I went to the bench and we went backwards, second quarter we went backwards, we were up 12-13 and I went to the bench and we went backwards.

"We kept putting pressure on our first group, so we have to do a better job there and if we don’t defend we won’t be going anywhere."

Cairns won a tight opening term 19-18 as both sides traded ascendancy without fully controlling the contest.

But the Hawks made their move in the second quarter as turnovers from Cairns and some hot scoring from Harvey, Jessup and Sam Froling (12 points, 12 rebounds) gave them a 10-point lead but it was cut to 45-40 at half time following a buzzer-beater from Ngatai.

Harvey caught fire to start the third nailing three threes and taking his Hawks out to the 12-point lead yet again but the Taipans tightened up on the Hawks’ playmaker and let their star, Machado find his shot.

He put together a flurry of points and assists which cut the lead to three and gave the Taipans another point towards the cup as well as chance to stay in the game.

The Snakes took the lead early in the last term via a Cam Oliver three and they remained in front despite Deng Deng enjoying a career night and knocking down multiple jump shots.

Ngatai was one of the standouts with some tough defence on Harvey and a dagger three from the right sideline with a couple of minutes to play while Mirko Djeric (16 points, five assists) was huge when his side needed him to be.

Both teams back up on Monday evening with the Hawks playing the Breakers, and the Taipans taking on Melbourne United.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 6
NBL CUP WEEK 1

CAIRNS TAIPANS 101 (Machado 31, Ngatai 17, Djeric 16)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 95 (Harvey 24, Deng 17, Jessup 17) 

POINTS AWARDED – Cairns Taipans 6, Illawarra Hawks 1

BOX SCORE