Taipans out to set the record straight
ENOUGH is enough for the Cairns Taipans.
They want to stop the rot in the ‘‘Sunshine Stoush’’.
The Taipans will host Brisbane at the Cairns Convention Centre tonight in the third Queensland derby of the 2017-18 NBL season.
The Bullets won the first two clashes with an 83-78 victory at Boondall in Round 3 followed by a Travis Triceinspired 82-74 triumph at the Brisbane Convention Centre in Round 6 when the US import hit 15 of his 17 points in a thrilling last quarter.
Brisbane are the only team yet to play in Cairns this season and they will face a Taipans side riding a four-game winning streak at home, including the 79-70 victory over Melbourne last weekend.
The fifth-placed Cairns (7-7) are on the road for a majority of the backend of the season and need to make every home outing count, especially against the seventhplaced Brisbane (5-8).
And Taipans captain Cam Gliddon said Cairns do not intend to make the same mistakes from the first two Sunshine Stoush arm wrestles.
“We’ve dropped two to them in two games that I thought were pretty winnable,’’ Gliddon said.
“We just didn’t execute for maybe three or four minutes out of the 40.
“Brisbane are pretty resilient. We did a good job of containing Travis (Trice) that second game for about 35 minutes then he just went mental at the end and got them over the line.
“If we can do a job on Trav and guys like Perrin Buford, Daniel Kickert and Tom Jervis, that will go a long way towards a win.’’
Trice will play his first game back in Cairns since leaving the Taipans at the end of last season and former teammate Gliddon says the Bullets star should get a robust but respectful reception from the Orange Army.
“We have very loyal fans that will be cheering for us but Trav was a fan favourite up here and really enjoyed his time here when he got out in the community a lot,’’ he said.
“Deep down they do like him but they will probably give him a little curry.’’
Bragging rights is just one of the extra spices added to the Queensland derby.
Cairns will celebrate the 250th win in club history with a victory over Brisbane while Taipans guard Jarrad Weeks is playing his 100th NBL game.
The Bullets will be just as keen to salute for head coach Andrej Lemanis in his 300th game as an NBL head coach.
With Cairns legitimately in the playoff picture, Gliddon said it was all about taking care of business.
“Brisbane have only been back in the league for one and a half years now but you still want to be the best team in the state. But we also want to be the best in the league so we need to get the win to try and square the series,’’ he said.