Wildcats demolish Taipans in second half

The Perth Wildcats are beginning to look like their old selves – riding an enormous defensive effort to an emphatic 89-69 victory over the Cairns Taipans at the NBL Cup on Friday night. 

This was the first 2021 meeting of last year’s semi-finalists, where the Taipans took the eventual champion Wildcats to three games in a spirited and hotly contested match up.

Those wishing for a role reversal – fans from North Queensland, namely – were left sadly disappointed as the Wildcats again extinguished the hopes of the Taipans, 89-69 in a bruising encounter. 

It puts Cairns in a precarious position (3-8) while the win has the Wildcats sitting undefeated in the NBL Cup after three games and an over 5-3 season record.

Any concerns over the Wildcats handling the departure of Nick Kay from that championship team have been quietened with what John Mooney continues to produce.

On the back of the first 30-point, 18-rebound game for the Wildcats since James Crawford in 1990, Mooney started this match fast too, with a 10-point, four-rebound quarter to open proceedings on his way to 17 points and 12 rebounds. 

He got plenty of support too and Bryce Cotton had a big say in proceedings despite shooting just 5/17. He had 23 points and eight assists while going 11/13 from the foul line.

Todd Blanchfield also had 15 points, Jesse Wagstaff eight (seven rebounds), Kevin White eight and development player Corey Shervill six on two three-pointers.

Understandably Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson was delighted with the win and the amount of contributors they had.

"I thought it was outstanding. They scored the last six points of the game I think, but other than that I thought we were on point with our [defensive] scout."

"I thought we were on the right path [in the first half], it was more little things that we have to dot the I's and cross the T's. We were getting good looks, just missing some bunnies out there... the guys did an outstanding job with it, staying with it and playing team basketball.

"I thought the bench was just providing energy. They've done that the last three, four games. You get into seven or eight games and you start to understand your roles. We don't need all rock stars out there, but you need guys to play their roles."

The Taipans were missing forward Majok Deng, who is out for six weeks after injuring his knee in Monday's loss to Melbourne and his absence was felt despite Fabijan Krslovic stepping into the starting void and finishing with 10 points and six rebounds.

Scott Machado was going at Cotton throughout, but his first half three-point shooting (1/5) let him down. In fact, as a team the Taipans were just 4/17 from three-point range at the main break. 

On the other hand, Cam Oliver (19 points, 14 rebounds) was big inside, and helped Cairns close the gap in the second quarter to two points (43-41). 

And when Oliver extended his range and hit his first three-pointer of the match, the Taipans took the lead (44-43) early in the third quarter. However scoring suddenly dried up for the Taipans, who would post just nine points for the third quarter. 

The Wildcats’ trademark defence began to come to the fore, and they took an 11-point (61-50) lead into the final quarter. It was the beginning of the end for Cairns from that point. 

Taipans coach Mike Kelly came away feeling like the Snakes need to go back to working on getting better shots on offence and finding a way to deliver 40 minutes of consistent basketball at both ends.

"We played really hard. We tried to defend even though we have up some open looks," Kelly said.

"We switched that around in the third quarter and Perth did a good job of just pressuring us a little bit and it changed our flow offensively and we didn't run a lot in the second half.

"I think Perth's defence had something to do with us not shooting as well from three. Some of our shots that we missed were contested.

"It wasn't so much that we missed shots or that we should just change what we were looking for, it's that we should run offence that gets better shots.

"I think we need to learn and continue to strive for playing 40 really good minutes. We had some good clashes and some good physical defence... we need to extend that."

Corey Shervill was instrumental in closing the contest out – making two three-pointers in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. When captain Jesse Wagstaff drained his second of the match, Perth shot out to a 70-55 lead. 

Bryce Cotton wasn’t to be outdone, and made his own dagger three to put the match beyond reach. It was a welcome basket for Cotton, whose shooting was slightly off-target in an otherwise productive night. 

Perth would eventually stretch it out to a convincing 89-69 win over the Taipans. 

The 'Cats are 5-0 when 12-year NBL veteran Todd Blanchfield scores 12 points or more this year, but 0-3 when he scores fewer than 12 points. 

The Wildcats return to action against South East Melbourne Phoenix on Wednesday night while the Taipans look to quickly fire back against the Brisbane Bullets on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 7
NBL CUP WEEK 2

PERTH WILDCATS 89 (Cotton 23, Mooney 17, Blanchfield 15) 

CAIRNS TAIPANS 69 (Oliver 19, Krslovic 10, Machado 8, Noi 8, Djeric 8)

POINTS AWARDED – Perth Wildcats 6, Cairns Taipans 1

BOX SCORE