NBL23: Round14 vs Cairns Taipans at Nissan Arena

The Brisbane Bullets are back at Nissan Arena to face the Cairns Taipans in the battle of the Sunshine State.

This will be the third time the two Queensland sides have faced off this season, with Cairns taking the previous two. The Bullets will look to build some positive momentum after strong showings in front of their home crowd of late.

GAME DETAILS

Brisbane Bullets vs Cairns Taipans

When: Thursday 4 January, 6:30pm AEST

Where: Nissan Arena

Tickets Available: HERE

LAST TIME MATCHING UP

Last time matching up, the Bullets put in a valiant effort, without a number of key players including Tanner Krebs and Tyler Johnson. After getting out to a hot start, they eventually fell to the Taipans in Cairns by 9. Aron Baynes had a strong performance for the Bullets with 17 points.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

CAIRNS TAIPANS 85 (Kuol 23, Hogg 15, McCall 13)

BRISBANE BULLETS 76 (Baynes 17, Sobey 13, Gak 10)

BOX SCORE

KEY MATCH UPS 

GORJOK GAK VS SAM WARDENBERG

Gorjok put together his best performance of the season against Melbourne United earlier this week finishing with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 2 steals. The young, athletic centre is continuing to evolve and develop his game as the season progresses and is making the most of his opportunities on court.

Fellow rookie big, Sam Wardenberg has impressed in his first season for the Snakes. Averaging 9.5 ppg and 3.9 rpg, Wardenberg has been a staple of the Cairns big rotation throughout NBL23. With Keanu Pinder still sidelined, the match up between these two young bigs will be entertaining. 

NATHAN SOBEY VS TAHJERE MCCALL

Nathan Sobey has been a consistently bright spark for the Bullets throughout the season.

Averaging 16ppg, 4.9apg and 4rpg Sobey is a strong competitor and fights hard on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.

Tahjere McCall is averaging 15.2 ppg and 5.1 rpg for the Taipans and 4.3apg contributing in many ways for his side. These two athletic guards will go head to head providing plenty of energy and highlights throughout the game.

ON THE RECORD 

Following the Bullets last home game on New Years day, Tyler Johnson expressed his disappointment following another close loss and implored his team to look within.

“I think that’s all the guys looking at ourselves in the locker room and understanding that we can have all the scout, we can have all the video that we want, but when we are on the court, what are we going to do when things get really hard?,” he said after the loss to Melbourne.

“Are we just going to go ‘it’s just their night tonight?’, or are we going to dig in and make that extra effort or box-out and come over the top when you see someone boxing out.”

Hostplus Head Coach Greg Vanderjagt will be looking for more from his team as when they take on the Taipans. Following last gae he said, “There’s a lot of things we can control … a lot of attention to detail and a lot of scout that we just don’t concentrate. Is it a product of fatigue? It’s our third game in a week … I don’t know. There’s some aspects we just need to be better.

“There are some really controllable things that are a lot of the time just concentration and effort areas, where we break down and let ourselves down.”