Taipans Lament Lack of Execution

Cairns Taipans coach Adam Forde has declared his team wasn’t hungry enough in their 68-64 loss against the New Zealand Breakers on Sunday.

Forde also added the Taipans lacked ball movement and execution, as his side shot just 35 per cent from the field.

“We weren’t aggressive, we weren’t attacking, we weren’t moving the ball,” he said.

“It just felt like everything was just a grind.

“The ball never moved; it was moving to the wrong areas.

“We showed some clips at halftime where you know, against Melbourne the ball was zipping around the floor, and here it was, everything was rather than a half second decision, it was like a 1.5 second decision.”

The Taipans relied on forward DJ Hogg to provide bulk of the offence as he had 25 points. However, Forde says the dynamic scorer could have scored more with a better gameplan.

“We sort of gave the ball to DJ and everyone just stood there,” Forde said.

“We got him easy points (at the start) and then we went away from him.

“We got him going early, then it felt like it was a real struggle to get him the ball.”

Forde turned to the bench to find players who could deliver, including Lat Mayen, who made his season debut.

Forde said he was “trying to find something that was going to be the X factor” and Mayen provided a good spark.

“I needed someone to give us a bit of energy, I thought he did a great job debuting and he will only get better,” Forde said.

The Taipans will play the Sydney Kings on Saturday night.