Taipans Dig Deep for Important Win Over Bullets

Sunday, January 29, 2023

The Cairns Taipans shook off a rough week and the loss again of superstar Keanu Pinder to score an important and hard earned 94-87 home win against the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday night.

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Nine days ago the Snakes were riding high on a six-game winning streak and looking forward to blending Pinder back into the line-up after an ankle injury.

However, they lost to Tasmania at home last Friday, then in Melbourne to the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Wednesday with plenty of controversary surrounding their Pride Round stance.

That left the Snakes needing to bounce back against the Bullets at the Cairns Convention Centre on Saturday to retain second spot ahead of the New Zealand Breakers, but the Bullets weren’t in a giving mood.

It was a first half full of stars stepping up too with 17 points for Tahjere McCall, 16 for DJ Hogg and Bul Kuol's 15 for Cairns while Nathan Sobey had 17 and Tyler Johnson 15 for Brisbane with the Taipans leading by just one.

The Snakes were hampered with what appeared a hip injury to McCall that he continued to play through, but the difference proved to be in the fourth quarter when Majok Deng and Shannon Scott stepped up for Cairns.

The pair combined for 16 points to help the Taipans overcome the gritty Bullets and claim the seven-point win to improve to 17-9 and stay second ahead of New Zealand.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Majok Deng is making it rain in the final term - 3?? triples straight! ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/4loTP2cAlC">pic.twitter.com/4loTP2cAlC</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1619286348057419776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

DJ Hogg finished with 23 points and six assists for Cairns on 7/12 field goal shooting with Bul Kuol contributing 23 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Tahjere McCall 23 points, five boards and three assists.

Taipans coach Adam Forde was delighted with the way his group battled hard for the win to guarantee that playoff position.

"We've clinched a playoff spot and we want to try and stay top two, and this helps that," Forde said.

"We're the walking wounded at the moment and if we can limp over the finish line, it's not that big of a deal if we've got a little bit more time to rest and recover with staying top two. These games are really important and that's what we're gunning for."

Nathan Sobey top-scored for the Bullets with 27 points to go with six rebounds, three assists and two steals with Tyler Johnson adding another 20 points and seven assists on 8/14 shooting.

Aron Baynes added 13 points, three rebounds and two assists, and DJ Mitchell 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Bullets coach Greg Vanderjagt continues to happy with the fight and growth his team is showing to close out the season.

"Obviously we've been out of the playoff race for a little while but the way that the group has played and responded to the challenges that have been in front of us has been really positive," Vanderjagt said.

"Every time we take a lump we bounce back really well. We got beat by New Zealand the other night but I thought we played a good game of basketball tonight and played with the right intent, and the way that we want to play.

"There's definitely an aspect of how we want this group to look next year and starting to build our identity for what the Brisbane Bullets in NBL24 are going to look like particularly on the defensive end of the floor."

Bul Kuol was the early spark for the Taipans scoring his team's first seven points but Nathan Sobey was being equally effective for Brisbane. After DJ Hogg hit a three to put the Snakes up 15-11, a Greg Vanderjagt timeout worked wonders for the Bullets.

They closed the opening quarter on a 16-6 run from that point including three balls to Tyler Johnson and Sobey, who had 14 points in the period on 5/7 shooting to outmatch Kuol's 12 for Cairns with Brisbane up 27-21.

Tahjere McCall and DJ Mitchell traded three-pointers to start the second quarter and eventually it was McCall and Hogg who willed the Taipans on top.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tyler Johnson is making plenty happen for the Bullets with the spin move ?<br><br>He's up to 20 points, and keeping his side in it ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/4lgv7HHP12">pic.twitter.com/4lgv7HHP12</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1619284236548341760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Kuol hit another three, Hogg added one too to give them a five-point lead midway through the period but they still couldn’t shake the Bullets.

Sobey (17) and Tyler Johnson (15) combined for 32 of Brisbane's 50 points meaning Cairns only took a 51-50 edge into the main break in a game they needed to win to stay in second spot.

McCall (17), Hogg (16) and Kuol (15) combined for 48 of their 51 points. The other three were free-throws to Sam Waardenburg.

Hogg and Kuol combined to put Cairns up four early in the second half but Brisbane weren’t going anywhere. Five quick points to Aron Baynes sparked a 7-0 run to put the Bullets back up three with the lead continuing to seesaw.

Eventually the Taipans went into three quarter-time leading 70-68 and with McCall struggling with his movement and Hogg and Kuol the focus of Brisbane's defence, the Snakes needed others to step up offensively.

It was Majok Deng and Shannon Scott who did exactly that. Deng knocked down three triples in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter and Scott made his first three buckets, including a triple with just over three minutes to play to make the lead seven.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DJ three ?? DJ slam!<br><br>DJ Hogg is catching fire ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/ZNzhQLb7AR">pic.twitter.com/ZNzhQLb7AR</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1619273139162333186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Snakes held on from there and simply had too much at stake not to but the Bullets showed some encouraging fight once more.

The Taipans remain at home to host the Adelaide 36ers on Monday night before finishing off next week away to the Perth Wildcats.

Brisbane has just the one game to go and that's at home to the New Zealand Breakers next Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 17

CAIRNS TAIPANS 94 (Hogg 23, McCall 23, Kuol 23)

BRISBANE BULLETS 87 (Sobey 27, Johnson 20, Baynes 13)

BOX SCORE