Taipans Shake Off Bullets for Important Home Win

The Brisbane Bullets shot out of the blocks with Aron Baynes on fire, but they couldn’t maintain the rage with the Cairns Taipans soon taking over on their way to an important 85-76 home victory to open Indigenous Round.

It was the second Sunshine Stoush of NBL23 on Wednesday night at Cairns Convention Centre with the Taipans ending up proving too strong but there were encouraging signs for the Bullets under Greg Vanderjagt.

Vanderjagt has been appointed the second caretaker coach of the season for the Bullets replacing Sam Mackinnon following the departure of James Duncan. His team came out strongly led by eight early points from Baynes.

However, Cairns had too much energy and firepower as the game wore on. The Snakes hit five triples to work their way on top in the first quarter, then dominated the second term and opened up a double-figure advantage in the third on the way to the nine-point win.

It's an important win for the Taipans who improve to 9-5 while the Bullets are now 4-10 having lost their previous three.

Bul Kuol was the star of the night for the Taipans to end up top-scoring with 23 points to go with four rebounds and three assists on 4/5 shooting from beyond the arc.

DJ Hogg added 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Snakes, Tahjere McCall 13 points, eight boards and seven assists, and Keanu Pinder 12 points and 15 rebounds.

Taipans coach Adam Forde found himself frustrated in the performance despite the relief in continuing to win.

"I won't lie but I don’t know why, that's the most frustrated I've felt this season," Forde said.

"My sense and feel is that we're at the halfway mark of the season and we've got nine wins. If we didn’t blow that game in Adelaide we're on a four-game winning streak and we're competing for a top-two spot. 

"We've got the No. 1 defence in the league right now and that's based on the actual defensive rating, turnovers generated and all that stuff. Yet we've got the second worst offence and it's really starting to frustrate me, and annoy me. 

"It's nothing to do with the personnel because we're very capable, it's trying to get key guys in particular positions. I want to be further down the track than where we are. The good thing is we have a string of games coming up that's going to help us build a bit of momentum rolling through."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Smooth move Bul ?<br><br>Watch LIVE on ESPN ? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OrangeArmy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OrangeArmy</a> <a href="https://t.co/ugFjYFXbtZ">pic.twitter.com/ugFjYFXbtZ</a></p>&mdash; Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1602955529512316928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Vanderjagt couldn’t fault the fight and efforts of his group after what they've been through.

"I'm proud of the group," he said. 

"I think they responded to the challenge that was put in front of them. We didn't have a great preparation, let's be honest, but their effort and intent I can't question. I think they played their backsides off all night, they played for each other, they competed for each other and did all the right things. 

"We go 8/15 from the line and 8/27 from the three, I don’t think this team does that again too many times this season. Some shots didn’t go our way and we had some mental errors down the stretch and at points in the game that hurt us so there's little things that take their toll over the course of the game. 

"We have to be better with those and sometimes we just broke out of stuff, and we're still a new group who hasn’t been whole yet with a new import coming in this week. He just got off the flight at 2pm on Monday and hasn’t practiced yet so I'm proud of what he did."

Just as Brisbane gained the services of new import Andrew White III, Tyler Johnson was ruled out just before the game to join Tanner Krebs and Tyrell Harrison sidelined.

However, White showed good signs in his NBL debut with a perfect 3/3 three-point shooting for nine points in 18 and-a-half minutes.

Baynes ended up top-scoring with 17 points while Nathan Sobey fought through a rough 4/18 shooting night to still contribute 13 points, seven assists, six rebounds and five steals.

Gorjok Gak was mighty impressive again too with 10 points and 11 rebounds with DJ Mitchell adding nine points and seven boards.

The Bullets were playing with a third coach in three weeks and the Greg Vanderjagt era started brightly with the first five points of the game courtesy of DJ Mitchell and Aron Baynes.

Shannon Scott got the Taipans on the board with a triple, but Baynes had his best start to a game in the NBL with the next three buckets as the Bullets kept feeding him inside and he put his team on top 11-3.

It was Bul Kuol who shot the Snakes back into the contest with consecutive three-pointers. Then after Harry Froling hit one of his own, the Taipans built some momentum with the next seven points topped off with a third long-range bomb from Kuol.

Cairns ended the opening period with a Ben Ayre three-pointer and as a team they went 5/9 for the quarter to be up 21-18 despite the six turnovers.

Things really dried up for the Bullets to start the second quarter, in fact they only scored one lone point in the first five minutes and didn’t nail a field goal until the six-minute mark courtesy of Gorjok Gak.

Cairns had built a nine-point lead with Tahjere McCall finishing at the rim before Andrew White III opened his NBL account with a three-pointer. 

DJ Hogg scored all his eight points for the half in the final couple of minutes to ensure the Snakes were in control 40-30 at the major break.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">More of this please, new fella ?<br><br>Andrew White III drains a three for his first bucket in the NBL ?<br><br>Catch the NBL23 action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/0LFV8Zccx8">pic.twitter.com/0LFV8Zccx8</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1602957768142426112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

There was a scary moment to open the second half with Sam Waardenburg finishing a layup for Cairns but then collected inadvertently in the head by a flying Mitchell. 

He wouldn’t return due to concussion but the Taipans continued to pull away and led by 14 when development player Josh Davey got out on the break for his first NBL points.

White's second three of his debut appearance at least kept Brisbane close and by three quarter-time Cairns still maintained the eight-point advantage.

The Snakes remained on top most of the rest of the way too and it was a terrific shooting night from Kuol doing the job for the home team. He hit his fourth three of the night to give him 10 points in the fourth quarter to put the Taipans up 15 with four minutes to play.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ok Sobes ??<br><br>Catch the final moments of this tight one live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/ZIJ9UdpITl">pic.twitter.com/ZIJ9UdpITl</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1602973141155708928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

A four-point play from Nathan Sobey did briefly put some life back in the contest but they couldn’t get any closer than six with the Taipans going on to win by nine.

Both teams back up to play again on Saturday with the Taipans away to the Tasmania JackJumpers first up before the Bullets battle the 36ers in Adelaide.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

CAIRNS TAIPANS 85 (Kuol 23, Hogg 15, McCall 13)

BRISBANE BULLETS 76 (Baynes 17, Sobey 13, Gak 10)

BOX SCORE