TAIPANS WORK ON DEFENCE FOR SUNSHINE STOUSH

THE Taipans are coming off one of their worst shooting performances of the NBL21 campaign but coach Mike Kelly says the focus has been on the defensive end as they prepare for the third Sunshine Stoush of the season.

Cairns will host Queensland rival Brisbane at the Snag Pit on Saturday night, in what will be its second-last home game of the season.

The Taipans struggled to get the ball in the basket in Adelaide on Tuesday, as they were limited to just 36 per cent (27-75) shooting from the field.

Point guard Scott Machado dished out seven assists but was an uncharacteristic 2-12 from the floor, including 1-6 from long range.

In the side’s previous outing against Phoenix, the star import finished the night shooting 2-11.

Kelly said he was not overly concerned about Machado’s recent shooting woes and backed the guard to bounce back against the Bullets.

“He’s a pro and he’s a great player,” the coach said.

“I’m more concerned about our team’s defence than Scott Machado’s offence.

“He fed his teammates really well, just missed some shots that he would normally make.

“I feel good about his offence; I just want our whole group to buckle down on defence.”

Kelly said stopping points, rather than scoring them, was the focus at this week’s training sessions.

“We have to come out at the start of the game and really play tough and set the tempo how we want to,” he said.

“It’s especially important against such a powerful team like Brisbane.

“They’re a really talented team that can go up and down, sometimes you can score a lot of points on them because they’re fast-paced and we’ve been able to do that at times, and there’s been other times where we’ve really struggled against their pressure defensively, so we’re trying to make it a tough, grinding game to slow them down and make them go at our tempo.”

Machado said he was “feeling fine” before the clash and was determined to find his shooting touch early.

“I had to miss a few practices because of my knee and it’s that lack of basketball play and obviously the repetitions of getting your shots up,” he said.

“I practised (on Friday), I came in (on Thursday), I got my work in, so hopefully get out of it tomorrow.”

Machado said the group’s energy at training was a good sign.

“Guys were getting after it, just making sure that we all went super hard and that we understand the physicality that has to come with playing a game,” Machado said.

He wanted to give the fans something to cheer about in the Snakes’ second-last home game of NBL21.

“We appreciated the support,” he said.

“It shows the loyalty and belief in the fans as much as we believe in ourselves.”

The Taipans will trade their orange stripes for their limited edition “blackout” jerseys for the game, in an effort to raise funds for charity partner IFYS Foster Care.

“It’s been a special relationship and we’ll auction off the guys’ jerseys after the game, which is really cool, so let’s get that win and raise some funds for (charity partner) IFYS,” Kelly said.