Nate leads way in restoring the pride
THE longest single season Cairns Taipans losing streak is finally over.
After 14 attempts, rookie coach Mike Kelly and his brand new group of Snakes brought up their second victory together as a team, 11 Rounds after the first win came, on Thursday evening.
And, most importantly, it was their first home triumph of the campaign to reward their loyal fan base for their support during all the losses.
All it took was playing the Brisbane Bullets again.
The NBL’s newest club were their victims in the opening game of 2018-19 and three long winless months later, it was the men from south Queensland who again could not topple the bottom of the table Snakes.
Some said Cairns would not win a game for the rest of the season, namely Corey “Homicide” Williams, but just days after Kelly swatted away those claims, his playing group backed up his words.
There were many things that worked in the Snakes second triumph of the season but it was the performance of Nate Jawai who set the tone. The big man from Bamaga has been crying out for more opportunities of late and he again proved he deserved them.
Several big dunks and four timely early assists helped Cairns take the lead and then extend it when the Bullets pushed back.
A breakout game for rookie Devon Hall also came at the best possible time, as he drilled six of eight attempts from long range. A 37-17 third quarter domination sealed the upset win, as it turned into a blowout in the end, 109-80.
Kelly addressed the entire crowd after the game, thanking them for their support during the longest losing skid the club has seen in one season.
Jarrod Kenny’s eight points in the first term, the best first quarter in his NBL career, helped give the Snakes an early six-point advantage.
The veteran reserve point guard played his best game in orange, looking energised on offence as he grabbed 15 points.
Jawai was injected into the starting unit after an impressive spell with the reserves in recent weeks.
He repaid coach Kelly’s faith with early aggression at the basket. A thunderous twohanded slam from Jawai gave the Snakes a then game-high 11 point lead with just under a minute before the long break.
The hosts took a nine-point lead into halftime after arguably playing their best back-toback quarters of basketball in weeks. Impressive import Lamar Patterson proved unstoppable for much of the contest for the Bullets, dropping 27 points, but he played a lone hand for his club.
Both clubs have weekend double-headers with Brisbane’s next task Melbourne while the Snakes host Andrew Bogut’s Kings on Monday.