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Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers |
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|---|---|---|
2016/17 NBL Season, 6 January 2017 |
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| Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns | ||
| Cairns Taipans | New Zealand Breakers | |
| 62 | SCORE | 63 |
| 11 | Q1 | 11 |
| 17 | Q2 | 19 |
| 14 | Q3 | 17 |
| 23 | Q4 | 16 |
The New Zealand Breakers need to put another action packed week off the court behind them if they are to stay in contact with the top four when they travel to take on the last placed Cairns Taipans. Join The Roar for live scores from 7:30pm (AEDT).
Both of these sides might be sitting at the bottom of the NBL ladder, with records under the 50 per cent mark, but neither team are out of the finals race with ten games still to play.
The Taipans, who have a record of seven and ten, really need to pick up a win here with a tough run to the end of the season and a form line that makes for grim reading, losing four of their last five.
Simply put, their defence that was so good at kick-starting a season, which had a slow start, has disappeared and it’s shown as they have dropped out of the top four and all the way to the bottom with a run to the finals looking a distant possibility.
While the Taipans could have been considered unlucky to lose to Melbourne by a point last week, their loss to Brisbane was a lot more convincing as they let in over 90 points.
Cairns offence simply isn’t strong enough to cover that sort of scoreline, no matter how well Travis Trice and Mark Worthington play.
Defence will be all the more important in this match, particularly if the New Zealand Breakers are anywhere near their best on offence.
It’s been a frustrating season for Paul Henare’s men, with inconsistency stopping them at every turn. For a team brandishing weapons like Kirk Penney and Robert Loe who can shoot the three ball with the best of them, sitting in seventh place and staring down the barrel of missing the finals is unacceptable.
While injuries have hurt them, things only got worse this week with confirmation Corey Webster will undergo hip surgery and miss the remainder of the season.
With their biggest weapon on the sideline, it’s up to others to lift their game and support Penney, who has shouldered most of the load in the backcourt since Ben Woodside was injured.
Given the Breakers got beaten in a scrappy encounter against the Sydney Kings last week, it’s clear that their defence isn’t quite up to it either despite the boost Alex Pledger gives them in the paint, so they must score plenty of points to record a win.
Prediction
The Taipans are generally a strong side at home and will be absolutely desperate for a win against an unsettled Breakers outfit.
It’ll be close and in all probability a scrappy, low scoring game but the Taipans should pick up the win on the back of their defence, with the Breakers just not having the offensive firepower to crack them open.
Taipans by 4
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this all-important Round 14 clash from 7:30pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to drop a comment in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde