GAME REPORT: Kings stunned by monster Taipan fightback in Cairns

Result: Cairns Taipans 84 Sydney Kings 82

Stats that matter: Taipans 16 three pointers, Taipans 16 offensive rebounds, Kings 46 points in the paint, Taipans 10 points from turnovers

Kings MVP: Torrey Craig made some huge plays all night to try and get his team across the line.

Turning Point: Cairns went on a 14-2 run in the third quarter to pull themselves back in touch.

The game was over when: Keanu Pinder scored the go-ahead – and, ultimately, the game-winning – basket for Cairns with 12 seconds remaining

Trending in the right direction: Jason Spurgin played solid minutes for the Kings off the bench.

That’s a tough one to swallow.

Despite being down by as much as 26 points late in the first half, the Cairns Taipans stormed back in the final twenty minutes to shock the Sydney Kings 84-82 on Friday night at the Cairns Convention Centre.

In a game where the hoary old cliche ‘a tale of two halves’ was devastatingly accurate; the purple and gold were at their imperious best in the opening two quarters and could not have played any worse in the last two.

The Kings led 48-22 with just over three minutes left to intermission and took a 53-32 lead into the dressing rooms, seemingly set for their fourth straight victory.

Sydney shot the ball extremely well in the opening stanza and their vaunted defence was in lockdown mode as they made Cairns look second rate. A win looked like a mere formality.

But this is the National Basketball League. You can never take anything for granted.

The Taipans overwhelmed Sydney in the second half – at one stage outscoring the Kings 45-16 to jump ahead by eight points with over six minutes to go.

Part of that scoring binge was a run of 18 straight points across the third and fourth quarters that had the Snakepit crowd in absolute hysterics. Shots that weren’t falling for the Taipans were dropping everywhere and the Kings’ offence, which had run so smoothly in the opening half, suddenly dried up.

To their credit, despite everything going wrong, and the Taipans beating them to every loose ball, Sydney kept fighting to the end, and a 10-0 run capped by a triple from Torrey Craig (22 points, seven rebounds, three blocked shots) gave the Kings an unlikely 79-77 advantage with two minutes remaining.

Cairns’ sharpshooter Reyne Smith (eight points) nailed a clutch triple in response, but after a massive offensive rebound tap out from Xavier Cooks (eight points, eight rebounds, four blocked shots), that man TC was there again to bury another triple with a minute left that looked like it would get the visiting team across the line.

But the Taipans weren’t to be denied. Keanu Pinder (24 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals) tied the game with a turnaround jumper, and after Kendric Davis (23 points, seven assists, three rebounds, two steals) missed a go-ahead three point try, Shaun Bruce (five points, four assists, three rebounds) found Pinder inside for the deuce with ten seconds left, a basket that would prove to be the final score of the contest.

“For us, it’s quite obvious – we were really good at the start of the game defensively, really lively, and got a lot of stuff off momentum and pace,” Sydney Kings Head Coach Brian Goorjian said afterwards.

“When we went into halftime, we said they’re going to shoot a lot of threes, they’re going to spread the court and they’re going to come in the first five minutes of the (third) quarter.

“We were a step off everything. I felt like we had control of how the game was going to be played, but we lost our way in the third (defensively), and it carried over to the offence – when we weren’t getting stops, and we weren’t putting energy there, we started bouncing the ball a lot and taking bad shots.”

It’s a quick turnaround for the reigning and defending National Basketball League champions as they head home to Afterpay Arena on Sunday 15 November to do battle with the New Zealand Breakers in NBL Indigenous Round. Tipoff is at 3:00pm and tickets are on sale via Ticketek.

“It’s important that we learn lessons and we get better,” Goorj continued.

“It’s everyone – coaches and players.

“Finding out what groups play well together and who plays well with who is still a process.

“But I’m excited to play on Sunday. This league is this. Everybody is getting kicked in the teeth and punched in the face and it’s how you get yourself up and go to the next one.

“I have a good feeling about our group.”

CAIRNS TAIPANS 84 (Pinder 24, McVeigh 16, Lewis 11)
SYDNEY KINGS 82 (Davis 23, Craig 22, Dellavedova 11) at Cairns Convention Centre
CROWD: 4,016

BOXSCORE

‍