Preview: Cairns vs Tasmania - Round 8, NBL24

Friday, November 17, 2023

Both Cairns and Tasmania suffered losses in their opening clashes of Round 8. Who will bounce back with a win?

Saturday, November 18 at 5:30pm AEDT | Cairns Convention Centre

Watch: Live on ESPN via Kayo Sports - International viewership details
Box scores: Download the free NBL App

Both Cairns and Tasmania played on the opening night of Round 8 on Thursday, and suffered defeats to Perth and New Zealand respectively.

Thursday’s game was the first time all season Cairns’ full roster was available following the returns from injury for Patrick Miller and Bobi Klintman. Miller started the game while Klintman found himself in foul trouble and played just six minutes.

Will Magnay dominated off the bench in Tasmania’s defeat to New Zealand and ended the game with 20 points, 13 boards and four blocks in just 16 minutes.

Scott Roth has called on the JackJumpers to rediscover their defensive identity, while Adam Forde is looking for ways to allow his team to score more effectively and consistently.

Cairns
80-88 loss to Perth
81-71 win over Illawarra
78-91 loss to South East Melbourne

Tasmania
92-97 loss to New Zealand
82-72 win over Adelaide
87-85 win over Brisbane

Taran Armstrong
Before the season started, rumour was Taran Armstrong would be Cairns’ starting point guard while experienced import Patrick Miller came off the bench, however in the first game they both played together – they started alongside each other and Tahjere McCall against Perth.

Armstrong entered the season as one of the most highly-rated local prospects in a sea of emerging Australian and New Zealand-born talent, but the exciting point guard has endured injury after injury in his first professional season and is attempting to adjust to the pace and power of the professional game all while trying to shake off the rust that numerous injury interruptions causes a guard to accumulate.

He's shown flashes of the brilliance that led him to be such a crucial off-season acquisition for the Taipans ahead of NBL24 – and had previously seen his name pop up in discussions around future NBA Drafts.

Ideally there would be little pressure on a young, emerging professional coming back from injury, but with the Taipans currently languishing in seventh and still playing catchup with a congested fixture list here’s hoping he comes good sooner rather than later – for Cairns’ sake.

“It’s hard to get a read on exactly what this Taipans team is at this point because everyone’s been filling in the gaps left and right. How’s that all going to work there with Taran Armstrong, Tahjere McCall and Patrick Miller? Who’s running the show? Who are they going to? What are they going to be at the defensive end? I have a lot of question marks hovering over the Taipans at this point.” – Liam Santamaria on NBL Now.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Taran Armstrong with the hoop and harm ?<br><br>Watch live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies | 10 Peach & 10 Play ? <a href="https://t.co/5G2EfvULxb">pic.twitter.com/5G2EfvULxb</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1721018447100784846?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Will Magnay
It took one game to get his feet under him, but two-way Magnay was back in full force in Tasmania’s loss to New Zealand on Thursday night, and the imposing center believes he still has some ways to go before he’s back to full fitness.

Magnay started the game on the bench in favour of Marcus Lee against New Zealand, but was injected into proceedings with great effect. He ended the game with 20 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks in just 16 minutes of action and, if he’d been ready for more time on the floor, he could have single-handedly pulled his side to victory.

There’s a reason NBA sides were sniffing around the Tasmania star following a breakout campaign with the Brisbane Bullets, and while injury has almost certainly redirected his career down a different pathway he certainly has the potential to be an NBL-leading big if he can stay on the floor.

While replicating such an incredible performance two nights in a row while still on the comeback trail looks unlikely – but not impossible – it was great to see a stark reminder of just how good Will Magnay can be when he’s fit and firing on all cylinders.

Let’s hope he gets a clean run at it for the rest of the season, shall we?

“He was a monster and no offence to him, but I was a little shocked actually that he was able to conditioning-wise that much.” – Scott Roth on Will Magnay.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Production king ?<br><br>Will Magnay was a monster in his second game back from injury last night ? <a href="https://t.co/whAL18sV3D">pic.twitter.com/whAL18sV3D</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1725317755874972138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Patrick Miller vs Jordon Crawford

Both Patrick Miller and Jordon Crawford will play big roles in each of their sides improving on the end of the floor they’re targeting. For Cairns, that’s on offence. For Tasmania, it’s defence.

Adam Forde lamented his side’s inability to find easy ways to score following Thursday’s loss to Perth, and Miller was solid if unspectacular in his return from a back injury.

The point guard had 12 points and six assists in his first game in almost three weeks, but only managed to connect on a third of his shots for the game.

Tasmania’s defence, on the other hand, has been untraditionally porous this season, and while it will take a team effort to clean things up on the less glamorous end of the floor, Crawford can help set the defensive tone for his side by battling hard despite giving up size and weight in every matchup he has in the competition.

If Tassie’s defence can get going then the Taipans could be stifled even further, but Cairns have the offensive weapons to make life difficult for Tasmania.

This is basically the opposite of the battle between the unstoppable force and the immovable object, but it’s equally as important.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BUL REJECTS THE SLAM ?<br><br>? <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cairnstaipans</a> | ? <a href="https://twitter.com/espn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@espn</a> <a href="https://t.co/ILPqrArZzW">pic.twitter.com/ILPqrArZzW</a></p>— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1725103153253912861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Cairns has won its last 11 home games that have come off the back of a loss. Can they keep the streak alive against Tasmania, or will the JackJumpers pile on the misery for the home crowd?

Gettyimages 1796527484
Tahjere McCall.