Wednesday 27 April 2011

by Nick Gibson

The scenario was simple – win on Saturday night to stay alive but a loss means it’s all over and a bunch of Kiwis celebrate on your turf. What we got was an absolute beauty, a classic!

The Cairns Taipans should never had lost it in regulation, never have comeback in the first overtime and yet somehow put it away in double OT. I’ve seen a lot of basketball and this was right up there with the best of them – if not the best as it was a grand final win from a club at home that are very lucky to still exist!

Great players want the ball when the big shot needs to be taken and this game had some big players take, and make, some big shots. CJ Bruton, Kevin Braswell, Daniel Dillon and Ubaka were all super cool in the clutch but what about Ron Dorsey!

Dorsey was huge when it mattered and his triple to tie up the first overtime will go down as one of the greatest shots of all time. The screaming full house of 5,200 fans was deafening as ten seconds earlier it seemed the Kiwis had won the title.

It now goes to game three in NZ (live ONE HD Fri 5.30) and this is great for Cairns, great for the Breakers (they can now win it at home) and superb  for the NBL in its bid to attract more sponsors, support and continue to move forward (thanks Julia Gillard)!

The big question now is can the Snakes win over there? They haven’t won in NZ all year and were blown away in Game 1 so they certainly won’t start favourites but no one gave them a chance in Townsville last week either.

The self belief must be riding high after winning Game 2 and it will take all ten guys to have good games (perhaps even play the perfect game) but it is possible.

The worrying sign is Kirk Penney. He had his worst game of the year here on Saturday and I can guarantee you that won’t happen again! I’m gonna stick with the Taipans in OT 'cause whist you’ve got imports of the calibre of Ubaka and Dorsey – anything can happen!!!

Good luck boys and be mentally tough as the job is still not done...

This weeks winners:

Taipans (Greatest win in franchise history couldn’t have come at a better time)
Ron Dorsey ( Two monster shots from the land of plenty to lift the roof off the Cairns Convention Centre)
Collingwood (All class on Anzac Day)
Gold Coast Suns (Wish I had of got to the TAB for that one)
Aaron Fearne (the jury is in – thumbs up to your coaching style)

Losers:                        

Port Adelaide (let’s watch Primus’s hair slowly turn very grey – he’s got work to do!)
Nth Melbourne (still winless)                                                
San Antonio Spurs (is the biggest upset in NBA history looming?)
Todd Carney (rugby’s Fevola)
Prince William and Catherine Middleton (fancy getting married during Game 3 of the basketball finals – that will be terrible for your ratings)