R21 Preview: NZ Breakers v Cairns Taipans

When: 5.30pm (AEST), Wednesday 2 June 

Where: Energy Events Centre, Rotorua

Broadcast: SBS Viceland; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
Cairns 70 (Jawai 21, Dufelmeier 14, Machado 13) d New Zealand 68 (Delany 23, Webster 15, Iverson 8, Loe 8) – Round 14, The Silverdome, Launceston

Last time the two teams met it went right down to the wire with Tad Dufelmeier the hero for the Taipans with the game-winner against the Breakers when they did battle in Tasmania, but that was now almost six weeks ago.

The bottom-placed Snakes were clinical for three quarters, leading by as many as 19 points and denying the Breakers any opportunity to graft their way back into contention. That was until the final quarter when New Zealand exploded out of the break with a 13-2 run that put them back to within a single point and plenty of time on the clock. At one point Tom Abercrombie even stole the lead for the Breakers for the first time.

It was Jordan Ngatai who stopped the rot, stroking home a triple to put Cairns up by three, but there was still almost two minutes left on the clock though and it was going to be a photo finish. Finn Delany was the architect of the New Zealand comeback with 23 points and 14 rebounds and he added to his tally along with Corey Webster (15 points, six rebounds, seven assists) stroking home free throws to once again put New Zealand back on top with just 23 seconds remaining.

Enter Tad Dufelmeier. The 25-year-old had been rewarded with his first career start in the NBL and found himself with the ball in his hands at the most important moment of the match - and he delivered with the match-winning triple. Or was it? The drama-meter went into overdrive when new Taipans recruit Venky Jois appeared to block Webster but was called for a goaltend. 

The scores were locked at 70-all, but the play was sent for review and overturned. The Breakers still had the final possession, but Levi Randolph could not find the bucket to send the match into overtime.

Nate Jawai delivered 21 points and eight rebounds for the Snakes with Dufelmeier delivering 14 points while Scott Machado was the perfect general with 13 points and eight dimes. 

The now

Both the Taipans and Breakers might be locked into the positions they are no matter what happens in Rotorua on Wednesday night, but with pride and careers up for grabs, make no mistake they'll be throwing everything at getting the victory.

The game at Energy Events Centre in Rotorua will be the second last of the #NBL21 season for the Breakers and the last for the Taipans. 

Both teams are anchored to the positions they currently occupy at the foot of the NBL standings too with New Zealand currently holding an 11-23 record while Cairns is stuck in bottom place at 8-27.

A significant curve was thrown into the mix of this final game of the season for the Snakes when the club shocked the NBL world with the announcement directly after Monday's game against Melbourne United in Sydney that reigning NBL Coach of the Year Mike Kelly was being let go and wouldn’t be seeing out the final year of his contract. 

That means that after doing a phenomenal job of getting the Taipans to within one game of a Grand Final little over 12 months ago, Wednesday night in Rotorua will be the final match in charge after three seasons of the Taipans for Kelly.

How the Taipans players react to that news ahead of their final match is anyone's guess, but it's already a playing squad missing what would be a pretty decent starting five – Cam Oliver, Venky Jois, Fabijan Krslovic, Kouat Noi and Mojave King. 

But two games ago the Snakes shocked the South East Melbourne Phoenix and they battled hard last up against Melbourne United missing all those five, so there's no reason they can't go into Wednesday's game hoping to finish their season recording a ninth victory.

Then there is the Breakers who are enjoying their homecoming having been based out of Australia since the start of December and playing their opening 29 games of the season out of New Zealand. 

They have now played five games in quick succession back on home soil but it's been a bit of a travelling circus with them going from Auckland to New Plymouth to Christchurch and then back to Auckland where they played in front of a huge 7612 crowd at Spark Arena against the Brisbane Bullets on Sunday.

The Breakers have won two of their five games back at home since their return and they will be determined and hungry to give the 3000-plus expected in Rotorua on Wednesday plenty to cheer about before they go on to finish their season against the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday back at The Trusts Arena.

The stats

- The Taipans will again be without what would be a strong starting five if you put together Cam Oliver, Fabijan Krslovic, Venky Jois, Kouat Noi and Mojave King. Those five players combined are averaging 54.6 points and 24.4 rebounds between them in the games they have played for the Taipans during the 2021 NBL season.

- Not only are the Breakers and Taipans the bottom two teams on the standings, they are the lowest scoring teams with Cairns going at 81.8 points a game and New Zealand 81.6 per game in #NBL21.

- The last win in New Zealand for Cairns was in October 2017 when the Taipans beat the Breakers 82-71 at Spark Arena

The key men

Levi Randolph – He is showing that he is the kind of dynamic, rapid-scoring import that the Breakers could have used all season long, and delivering the type of basketball to close #NBL21 that could see him earn a contract to return next season too. He is averaging 15.9 points and 3.9 rebounds across his 13 games this season, but he is fresh off delivering 30 points, six rebounds and five steals against Brisbane on Sunday, and he could prove challenging to curtail for the Taipans on Wednesday in Rotorua.

Mirko Djeric – He has been in hot shooting form over the past two games for the Taipans and if he can keep it going on Wednesday against the Breakers then he might be able to give the Snakes a sniff at the victory. Over the season he is averaging 8.7 points a game and shooting the three ball at 35.1 per cent. But going back to Friday at home to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, he knocked down four massive threes in the space of three minutes to lead the Snakes to a drought breaking win. He then fired away for 4/7 from deep against Melbourne United in Sydney on Monday for 16 points, and more of the same and Cairns will be tough to beat on Wednesday.

The quotes

New Zealand coach Dan Shamir has been delighted to see the enthusiasm with which the Breakers have been greeted by their fans since their homecoming, but he'd like to have his team put in an improved showing from the one against the Bullets on Sunday.

"First of all I want to thank all the fans that came out here and to all our games. We have waited for this for so long and we are actually marked the Spark Arena game as the highlight of the year. We wanted to put together a win and a good performance, but sometimes things don’t happen as you wish," Shamir said.

"It wasn’t good enough at the start for us in the first quarter and we lacked a little intensity, and defensive things. They got us a little bit but then it was another weak quarter when we were 2/13 from three in the second quarter and went into the locker room down 19. 

"We just decided to let Corey, Tai, Levi, Finn and Colton to figure it out, and in the second half we laid it out there but it wasn’t enough. We'll have to be better, that was a day we really wanted to show a good side of ours but it didn’t go to plan. We'll have to come back better and stronger."

Breakers star guard Corey Webster is looking forward to the two more chances to thank the home fans for their support, loyalty and patience starting Wednesday against Cairns in Rotorua.

"We've been waiting for this game to get home to play in front of our fans. It's been a tough road but thank you to all the fans who came out to provide a great atmosphere," Webster said.

"It obviously wasn’t the result we wanted and we let them down a little bit, but it was an amazing atmosphere. Hopefully we can get back to that next season."

Cairns coach Mike Kelly has no doubt his young players will be continuing to learn plenty from the chances they are now receiving, but that doesn’t make it easier to cover the number of quality players that they are currently without.

"I think those minutes that the guys have gotten throughout the season especially this second half of the season, the young players Mojave, Tad, George and now Jordan Hunt have stepped up and played really well. It's just good to see that they are ready and against Melbourne United who are the best opposition that you can go up against," Kelly said.

"It's just tough when you are missing players so it's really about that depth, and players that have great experience at this level and you miss those guys who shoot the ball well, rebound the ball well, defend and then just give you more legs. All of those things add up but it's also a great opportunity for some guys while making it hard to win against very good teams in the NBL without your whole crew.

"I think we battled in this game and we had our finger in a hole, but there ended up being too many holes to plug. I'd love to see us get the momentum going now in this last game and play four great quarters, and defend for four quarters and have some sort of offensive consistency for four quarters. That's what I would love to see for this group and then just continue that fight for the whole four quarters."

Taipans development player Jordan Hunt was one player to receive more opportunity on Monday against Melbourne and he is sure to do so again in Rotorua against the Breakers on Wednesday in what is a homecoming for the young Kiwi.

"It's obviously good to get out there with the boys and against a tough team like Melbourne, that's a really good challenge. I'm just out there trying to play as hard as I can to see what I can do to help the team," Hunt said.

"Playing against Melbourne with the quality of their team and the depth that they have, it's really awesome to just go up against those quality players and I've been waiting the whole season just to play. It has been good just keeping ready for a chance like this.

"Last time I was home was before the season started and came over to Cairns so that was around November, December last year. Getting to go home now is really nice, I get to play in New Zealand and then I'll go straight into the NZ NBL which is obviously really good timing for me. I'm just looking forward to that. I've packed up all my bags before this road trip and now I'll be staying in New Zealand after the Breakers game."