R15 Preview: Cairns Taipans vs Sydney Kings

When: 5.30pm (AEDT), Sunday 13 March 2022

Where: Cairns Convention Centre

Broadcast: ESPN; 10 Play; Sky Sport NZ

Who won last time?

Sydney 98 (Cooks 23, Adams 21, Martin 18) d Cairns 88 (Machado 26, Zimmerman 16, Deng 14) - Round 14, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

Despite the absence of Tahjere McCall, Mirko Djeric and Nate Jawai, the Taipans put up a spirited effort on the back of the work of point guard Scott Machado and big man Stephen Zimmerman, but the Kings just proved too much to stop.

The Kings came into Indigenous Round in the NBL as the hottest team in the league and they were able to keep that going in front of their season-high home crowd of 9112 people.

There were plenty of players who stood up for Sydney but again it was Xavier Cooks (23 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three blocks) and Jaylen Adams (21 points, four assists, 5/7 from deep) showing the way. They had plenty of help too with 18 points and 10 rebounds from Jarell Martin, 15 points from Ian Clark, and 11 points and three assists from DJ Vasiljevic.

The Taipans made a game of it and put up a good fight with Scott Machado producing 26 points and seven assists in a fascinating point guard battle with Adams. Stephen Zimmerman fought valiantly inside too to finish with 16 points, 13 rebounds and five assists with Majok Deng contributing 14 points, Bul Kuol 10 and Keanu Pinder nine.

What happened last start?

The Kings haven't played since winning a sixth straight match last Sunday at home to the Cairns Taipans. It was another impressive performance with not only Xavier Cooks, Jaylen Adams and Jarell Martin starring, but their depth on show as well.

They now have had a full week of preparation to head up to Far North Queensland to take on the Taipans again but losing Cooks is going to take some doing to replace his energy and production. However, the Kings have now won six in-a-row and need to make it seven if they hope to end Round 15 in the NBL's top four.

The Taipans have played since last Sunday but they perhaps wish they didn’t having lost at Cairns Convention Centre on Friday night to the Tasmania JackJumpers by 16 points. It was a performance that coach Adam Forde labelled as embarrassing after the game, experienced guard Jordan Ngatai called the way they are playing and their demeanour as a group as draining, and now they somehow have to bounce back less than 48 hours later against the hottest team in the league.

Who’s in form?

Jaylen Adams – The point guard has announced himself once healthy on the NBL in remarkable fashion. Over the last three games alone, he is delivering 26.0 points, 7.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds a game. Not only that, but he's shown a penchant for the big moments delivering that game winning dunk, offensive rebound and pass against the Brisbane Bullets, and hitting a huge late three against the Perth Wildcats. Someone who can deliver all game and then fire in the clutch make him quite the invaluable resource for the Kings.

Stephen Zimmerman – The Taipans big man has found his feet in the NBL and figured out what works for him. He is the kind of big that is somewhat out of fashion but that makes him a good weapon for the Snakes because there aren’t too many teams with someone who is a good match up for him. He's hard to stop in the block and has good moves to score, and is a willing passer and strong rebounder. Good things happen when the ball goes through him and he had 19 points on 9/13 shooting on Friday against Tasmania. What is baffling for all involved is why he didn’t see more of the ball and expect that to happen on Sunday.

Who needs to be?

Scott Machado – Everything at the Taipans goes through the Maestro. He had a good game last Sunday in a fascinating battle with Jaylen Adams, but it's not just about him running the point. He also sets the tone in terms of attitude and demeanour, and it hasn’t looked a happy team in recent times and he is the one that needs to lead from the front. He needs to be positive and upbeat, and he needs to push the pace and be at his creative best if there's any chance of the Snakes clicking and playing well as a unit.

Makur Maker – No Xavier Cooks for the Sydney Kings on Sunday with an ankle sprain is hardly ideal because big men depth isn’t something they have an abundance of. Cooks has been in remarkable form to put him in All-First NBL Team contention so now the slack is going to need to be picked up multiple players, no one person is expected to do it but Makur is one who will see his minutes and role dramatically improve. He's capable and now he needs to step up and play a key role for the Kings to keep their winning form going.

Who’s matching up?

Stephen Zimmerman v Jarell Martin – The Machado-Adams match up as point guards will be fascinating, but the battle of big men with Zimmerman up against Martin is going to be crucial as well. Big Zimm gives the Taipans a chance to have a different look inside and down than other teams across the NBL, and especially without Xavier Cooks in the line-up for Sydney, they need to try and take full advantage. So Martin will need to be on song defensively but up the other end, if he is active and aggressive, he's a tough guard for the Cairns big man.

Who’s statting up?

 - The Kings have enjoyed a strong dominance over history against the Taipans having won 52 of the 70 clashes between the two teams. Now coming into this game, Sydney is attempting to win seven straight for the first time since February 2008 and Cairns is trying to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat
 
 - The Taipans are ranked last in the league in terms of taking care of the ball, averaging 15.7 a game in #NBL22. However, one positive in their last two games has been they have only combined for 19 turnovers despite losing to Sydney and Tasmania by a total of 26 points

 - The Snakes are going to have to be on song to keep pace with the Kings. Sydney has scored 92 or more points in four of their past five games and averaged 90.4 per game over that stretch. The Taipans have only put up 74.7 points in that time

 - Angus Glover will play his 50th NBL game when he plays for the Kings on Sunday. It has taken him five years, five months and six days to get to the mark after making his debut as an 18-year-old for the Illawarra Hawks back at the start of the 2016/17 season. It has taken him a total of 1983 days.

Who’s talking the talk?

Taipans coach Adam Forde wasn’t in the mood after Friday's loss to Tasmania to mince his words. He made it clear that he couldn’t understand why Stephen Zimmerman didn’t get more looks and wasn’t interested in excuses like the absence of Tahjere McCall and Nate Jawai.

"Zimm should have had 30 shots. We run stuff and then Tassie adjust and then we just go away and we panic. He was 9/12, he should have been 20/30 and I don’t have an answer for why he wasn’t," Forde said.

"Everyone's dealing with things. Tassie didn’t have Magnay and he's a defensive force for them. We cannot sit here and make excuses for the dudes who are out. This is an opportunity for the guys to step up and really embrace their role, and claim a bigger role. 

"There's multiple examples throughout the league of it happening over previous seasons where it doesn’t matter who's out. The guys who stepped up to play all laid an egg and it was terrible."

Injury replacement player Marshall Nelson and development player Robbie Heath gave Cairns some life late on Friday. Forde saw them as setting the standard for the rest of the group and he hopes they all took notice of their attitude and approach.

"Marshall is an injury replacement player at the moment so credit to him, his agenda is different to everyone else's and he's a guy trying to get a full-time gig. Maybe that's the mindset we all need to have, maybe we are too comfortable and this is the problem with the NBL," Forde said.

"Myself included, people get comfortable in their jobs and occupation if they sign a multi-year deal. There's no guarantee that I get to the end of the season and I'm planning for next year. This is the industry. I get it if I get told I'm not your guy and we're going to go in a different direction. 

"Marshall is playing with the mindset that he's playing for a job, maybe we all need to play like that. There's no demotion or elevation, or trades, releases and signings so people get comfortable. Robbie is in the same category, he's a development player and he wants a full-time gig. 

"The same with Brayden (Inger). This is my message with them all, go out there and steal someone else's minutes. It's not good enough to just be competitive and they were super competitive."

Jordan Ngatai looked a shattered man after Friday's loss to the JackJumpers as well and believes it's on the Taipans players to turn things around. They shouldn’t need any outside motivation.

"I don’t think we should have to rely on our coach to drive us to play a game of basketball. I feel like we are very privileged to play this game and I don’t think we should rely on other people, especially our own teammates to push someone else to play the game of basketball," Ngatai said.

"I think we all just have to come with that passion and have fun. It doesn’t look like we're having fun out there either but we need answers quick. I don’t know what it is, I don't know what sort of formula or what sort of answers to give. But the big thing is that I don’t think we have to rely other people to get us to play the game of basketball."

Sydney Kings guard Jaylen Adams is in tremendous individual form and so is his team having won six straight, and he feels it's all because of being healthy and finding their groove together.

"We are handling our side of things and playing real good basketball, and continue to grow every day so I can't complain at all," Adams said.

"We weren’t the healthiest team early on in the season and that's something every team goes through so I try not to use it too much as an excuse. But really we are just getting healthy and everyone has been playing a consistent amount of minutes together, and we've been getting some full practices under our belts. I think that's the big thing."

The latest addition to the Kings is NBA championship winner Ian Clark who had 15 points last Sunday against the Taipans. Adams is impressed with what he's already brought on and off court after just three games.

"He has been through it all and got plenty of NBA games under his belt so he brings in a different type of leadership and poise especially late in games. And in the locker room, he's been a voice from day one so he brings a lot off the court," Adams said. 

"Then on the court, he can really shoot and score the ball, take some pressure off all the guards like me and DJ, and Brucey when he comes in. He's a great player, a great person and he's going to help us go far."