BASKETBALL: Taipans set to grind Tigers down
THE season started with the Melbourne Tigers doing their best to ruin the Taipans NBL title hopes, but it could finish with the opposite scenario tonight.
The Tigers – under former Townsville Crocs coach Trevor Gleeson – this season acquired Cairns’ guns Dan Dillon, Ron Dorsey and Ayinde Ubaka in the hope of rocketing to a premiership.
What has transpired for them since has been less than ideal.
The Tigers still hope to clinch a finals berth, but sit sixth and will need to win almost all of their remaining six games to edge into the four.
On top of that, Ubaka is now playing for the Hawks after being disharmoniously sacked by then-tigers boss Seamus Mcpeake earlier this year.
Because of all this, it would be poetic if the Taipans delivered Melbourne’s last rights tonight at the Cairns Convention Centre. But for Taipans coach Aaron Fearne, it is just another game on the path to something much bigger.
“They know they need to win pretty much every game from here on in, but every win is important for us, it doesn’t matter who it’s against,” Fearne said. “We’ve got bigger fish to fry.” Despite the histrionics surrounding the Tigers’ season, they will still pose a great threat, with Ubaka’s replacement Myron Allen proving a more than capable point guard.
And those in the building on December 10 will remember the teams’ last meeting in the Far North well.
It had all the twists and turns of the fairytale encounter it was cranked up to be and finished with an Ubaka three-pointer to win the game disallowed after a video replay.
“They’re still a major threat, their new point guard’s very good, very quick and sees the floor well,” Fearne acknowledged.
“They’re still athletic and quick. We will need to lock into that and control the tempo because we want to grind it out.”
It will again be a clash between Melbourne’s attacking ways and Cairns’ restrictive defence.
The Taipans recent surge has much to do with the clever offensive work from Ian Crosswhite, while Jamar Wilson has flicked the switch down the stretch at will.
Last night the Crocs thrashed the Taipans 75-43 in their NBL clash in Townsville.
Check out last night’s game review online at cairns.com.au