R6 Preview: Illawarra Hawks vs Cairns Taipans

Saturday, February 20, 2021

The Hawks have owned Cairns twice already this season, but the Round 5 Taipans were a different defensive proposition as they broke their losing streak in style.

When: 3pm (AEDT), Saturday 20 February

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

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

The last time
Illawarra 90 (Harvey 21, Jessup 19, Froling 14) d Cairns 70 (Oliver 20, Machado 14, Djeric 11), Round 3, Cairns Pop-up Arena

The Hawks continued their dominance of Cairns this season in Round 3, a blistering run across quarter-time setting up a double-figure lead. The Taipans only once pulled closer than five after that as Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup did as they pleased offensively, and Sam Froling cashed in on overplays. Cam Oliver was deadly and Scott Machado solid, but none of the other Snakes showed much venom.

The now
Since then, Cairns have taken Brisbane to overtime, ran the Breakers to the wire and then finally got back on the winner’s list with a dominant display against the Kiwis. Their defence went to a new level of intensity in that game, holding NZ stars Lamar Patterson and the Webster brothers to a combined 10-of-32 and making role players beat them, something they weren’t able to do against Illawarra.

The Hawks have been riding the Harvey-Jessup train – which was full steam ahead in both games against the Taipans, but the loss to SE Melbourne showed there are genuine questions about the supporting cast’s ability to cover for quiet nights. That game was lost in the effort areas, which meant the Hawks played on the backfoot most of the night, in contrast to their aggressive two wins in Cairns.

The stats

- Illawarra are +9 in the possession game in their two wins over Cairns, forcing the Snakes into 27 turnovers while committing just 16 themselves

- The Taipans have been outscored 43-9 by the Hawks in points from turnovers. In their win over NZ, the Taipans won that stat 13-1, only the second time they had done so this season

- In those Ws over Cairns, Harvey, Jessup and Froling have combined for 114 points at 58 per cent, while their teammates have added 68 points at 34 per cent

- The Snakes have shot just 37 per cent from the field against Illawarra, launching 74 three-point attempts in 80 minutes and landing just 21

The key men

Cam Bairstow – After an injury-interrupted start, the ‘Bair’ is showing some form of old, adding 15 points and 6 boards against the Phoenix and a 13 and 10 double-double in the win over Sydney. The Olympian had 9 o-boards and downed 2 triples in those games, but it’s whether he can extend defensively against Oliver that could be most important on Saturday, after Space Cam went 9-of-20 from deep in the four games leading into last round.

Kouat Noi – In Cairns two wins, Noi has dropped 7-of-10 from long range, and there is no secret his ability to punish sagging defences is key to opening up room for Machado and Oliver. Noi has scored in double figures in seven of his eight games, but it’s his ability to consistently hit from outside and then deliver a solid performance at the defensive end against the NBL’s quality wings which is the difference maker for Cairns.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Team movin’ the rock! ? <br><br>Kouat Noi has 18 points to his name ? <a href="https://t.co/gPfTK54g5c">pic.twitter.com/gPfTK54g5c</a></p>— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1358713552152915968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The quotes

It was a golden moment after a memorable drought-breaking win for Cairns, as a Mike Kelly slip of the tongue gave Scotty Machado great amusement.

“I know that Scott and Cam (Oliver) don’t care if they are the main guys scoring. I think they're going to be because they're very good at it,” Kelly said.

“But the great thing is they want their teammates to have the balls … the ball, in the right position and those guys made shots tonight, and that was nice to see good contributions from everybody who played.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I think <a href="https://twitter.com/_ScottMachado?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_ScottMachado</a> enjoyed this slip of the tongue from his coach <a href="https://twitter.com/MCKelly44?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MCKelly44</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/r2xkGu3bXF">pic.twitter.com/r2xkGu3bXF</a></p>— Tom Hersz (@tomhersz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomhersz/status/1358745026361061378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Both interpretations were probably true, as the comment came after a clinical team beating of New Zealand where the Taipans’ star import duo only combined for 21 points at 29 per cent.

Earlier in the season, the Snakes’ supporting cast struggled to even get their team through stretches where Machado and Oliver were resting or subdued, including in their first two meetings with the Hawks.

While many who are not involved in the day-to-day grind of the Hungry Jack’s NBL can’t understand why coaches sub so regularly and trust their benches so much, for Brian Goorjian that’s a no-brainer.

“I keep saying at the time-outs that we’re 11-deep, you guys who are starting are carrying the heavy load, don’t think you’ve got to play 40 minutes,” Goorjian said.

“There is so much pressure in this league, full-court, on the ball, up the lanes, physical, that mentally if you think you have to do (for 40 minutes) that it’s just too difficult, so I tried to move bodies early and the bodies I moved really helped.”

In both meetings with Cairns, Goorjian’s men have worn down their Queensland counterparts, who relied on Machado and Oliver to score 42 per cent of the team total.

“Scott’s about as good as they get with Cam on middle pick-and-roll,” Goorjian said.

“In the first half it was a bit of a struggle for us, but I thought we got better and better defensively on the on-ball as the game went on.”

And that was because of their depth, with Justin Simon and Deng Adel running a tag team on Machado.

“We added Adel tonight, and just talked about not worrying about the offensive end, just run your lane and just work Scott (defensively),” Goorjian said.

“Work Scott and sustain that pressure, so it was great for Justin to have a back-up on Scott tonight and I thought he really helped us defensively.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It’s <a href="https://twitter.com/Foreverdeng?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Foreverdeng</a> defending the house ? his first ever <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nbl</a> block!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/wykJ3aHM1Z">pic.twitter.com/wykJ3aHM1Z</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1360811177337479168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It was the same at the other end, with Cairns targeting Harvey and Jessup, but the supporting cast able to play their role as they subbed in and out and provided high-octane offence.

“(Cairns) really did a good job, it was very difficult to run structure, doubling, taking the ball out of Tyler’s hands face-guarding him, making it difficult for him to get the ball back, “ Goorjian said.

“I think one of the strengths of the team is we have multiple guys who can carry the ball and find some sort of continuity.

“So we really struggled to find sets, but as the game wore on we did move the ball side-to-side before we attacked the basket. We just got that ball moving, and as the game went on it opened up.

“Tyler got hot, Justinian Jessup got hot, and as the defence settled we got to run some sets and those guys scored off those offensive sets.”

Things have changed for Cairns though, with nine guys playing 11 minutes or more in the win over New Zealand, where their team defence was at a new level and Majok Deng, Kouat Noi and George Blagojevic had “the balls” to hit big shots en route to 49 points between them.

“I believe in these guys, and these shots are shots they normally make,” Machado said.

“We want them to take open shots and to hit open shots. Coach is putting them in the best position to make shots, so once they get to their spots and they take the correct ones, they’ll have nights like this all the time.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Majok Deng making a statement tonight ? <a href="https://t.co/G6Nw4Un9cn">pic.twitter.com/G6Nw4Un9cn</a></p>— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1358714760766787584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>