Taipans no longer easybeats

ASK and you shall receive.

The Taipans are up and about, and are competing at a high level.

The Snakes played their best game against ladder leaders Sydney last week, and while they didn’t get the win, the fans had plenty to cheer about.

Late game execution cost Cairns in the end, as Sydney were able to force clutch shots to be taken by the Taipans role players who didn’t find their mark.

For Sydney it was their two former league MVPs in Jerome Randle and Kevin Lisch who were taking turns in putting Cairns to the sword.

Over the past month we’ve seen teams rest star players like Brisbane’s Cam Bairstow and Perth’s Bryce Cotton for the Far North clash.

But the “easy win” label put on this Cairns team has now been changed to “danger game”.

It was great to see Mike Kelly so animated in his timeouts.

He did a great job sensing those moments, and while it goes against everything in his personality, it was fantastic to see him evolve into more of a “whatever the team needs” approach.

Melbourne have been far from convincing, and I believe the defending champs are ripe for the picking. Brisbane took down United with relative ease last week after attacking star guard Chris Goulding.

With no Casey Prather and Tai Wesley in the United lineup this year they’re missing some serious firepower, and if you can keep Goulding a nonfactor you’re in with a chance. Melbourne have been the Casper Ware show, and that’s about it in recent weeks.

New Year’s Eve is a distant memory but I expect some late fireworks in this clash.