SNAKES REIGN
Kelly, Newbill, claim coveted crowns at NBL awards night
FROM the wooden spoon last season to the Cairns Taipans’ revival in 2019-20, it is perfectly fitting that Mike Kelly and DJ Newbill received top honours at last night’s NBL awards.
The second-year coach was crowned the Lindsay Gaze Coach of the Year while co-captain Newbill was named Defensive Player of the Year, following their second seasons in FNQ.
While Scott Machado has been the Snakes’ driving force this season, and was also rewarded with All NBL First Team selection, it is Kelly and Newbill who stuck through the hard times and have worked hard to get the club back on track, reaching third place on the ladder this season.
Shooting guard Newbill showed his grit and determination through all the losses last campaign and is now seeing the benefits of sticking with the Snakes.
Kelly won the Coach of the Year prize in a canter, 26 votes clear of Sydney’s Will Weaver.
Newbill cemented his position as the elite two-way guard in the NBL by claiming the defensive player of the year from Brisbane’s Will Magnay.
While the club’s coach and the co-captain will bring silverware back to Cairns, instrumental point guard Machado was just beaten for league MVP by Perth’s Bryce Cotton. Perth’s little master finished eight votes clear of Machado in the end.
Machado did not leave emptyhanded last night, claiming the Fans MVP award as well as being named in the prestigious All NBL First Team.
The All NBL Second Team comprised Sydney’s Casper Ware and Andrew Bogut, Cairns’ Newbill and Cameron Oliver and New Zealand’s Scott Hopson.
After missing a large chunk of the season with an ankle concern, Kouat Noi came second in Rookie of the Year, beaten by the NBA-bound LaMelo Ball.
ACROSS their last two games of the regular season, the Taipans have collectively gone down by 52 points.
And, post-game on Saturday night following their blowout at the hands of Brisbane, there was just one word that summed up how the Cairns group felt leading into the NBL finals: confident.
The duo of Round 20 big defeats did little to impact how the Snakes are feeling about themselves with a three-game semi-final series against the defending champions up next.
It was not pretty against the Bullets on Saturday, as Cairns were effectively run out of the gym inside the first 10 minutes in the final “Sunshine Stoush” of 2019-20.
Second-year mentor Mike Kelly was not overly fazed with how his squad finished the regular season, preferring to focus on how well they played in the middle part of the campaign that booked third place on the table.
“The guys feel pretty good right now, as far as big picture,” Kelly said.
“But, if you look at the guys as they walked into the locker room, they were not happy to get their tails kicked.
“I think this is a really confident group; I feel great about this team and overall how we are playing.”
Stretch forward Majok Deng, who was Cairns’s best on Saturday, sang from the same hymn sheet.
“We are trying to get ready for Perth – we are pretty confident we are going to come in and do what we do best,” Deng said.
“It has not shown in our last two games, but we have not dropped (in) confidence, we are feeling good about ourselves. We will work hard over the next two weeks and try and win games.”
With Cairns’s import trio having a quieter night, former Adelaide forward Deng carried much of the load on offence, dropping in 20 points while also grabbing seven from the glass.
Kelly also confirmed Cairns’ leading man, Scott Machado, was battling a shoulder complaint, which he picked up on Thursday night against United.
Machado was handed three early fouls, to go with three turnovers, and had little impact for much of the night against Brisbane.
Machado eventually handed the ball back on six occasions in what was a rare poor performance for the American guard this campaign.
With the game virtually over not long after halftime, the 29-year-old point guard sat and watched, with Kelly confirming post-game a shoulder issue was also bothering Machado.
“He was OK to play, but he took a knock in the last game and played through it,” the coach said.
“By the end, when we were down 30, I thought it was smarter to not push him any further physically, and that was the case with a few guys.”
The NBL goes into a bye round this next week for a FIBA break, before the Taipans get stuck into their semifinal series against Perth, starting on Friday, February 28 at RAC Arena.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE GUYS AS THEY WALKED INTO THE LOCKER ROOM, THEY WERE NOT HAPPY TO GET THEIR TAILS KICKED. TAIPANS COACH MIKE KELLY
and finish the regular season 1612, good enough for third place and a semi-final series against Perth.
Cairns had little to play for in their Round 20 away games, while Melbourne and Brisbane had everything on the line, with third place on the ladder already locked up.
But, the way the Snakes played across their last eight quarters of basketball, especially the final term against Melbourne and all four against the Bullets on Saturday, would be a little worrying for Mike Kelly and his coaching staff.
In the context of the entire season, a poor final round does not mean all that much, as long as they can bounce back quickly in a fortnight’s time against Perth.
TURNOVERS, AGAIN
Following the defeat to Melbourne, Kelly urged his squad to stop turning the ball over but it obviously went in one ear and out the other.
After the first term against Brisbane, the Taipans had turned the ball over a massive 11 times. No, that is not a typo, they turned the ball over more than once a minute in the opening stanza.
To put that in context, the
Snakes usually turn the ball over just over 13 times a game this season. And, they would eventually turn the ball over 27 times when it was all said and done.