Basketball Gods Deliver for Breakers in Cairns

The equation is simple for the Sky Sport Breakers who have already qualified for the playoffs.

Beat the bottom placed Illawarra Hawks on Thurday and the second to bottom Brisbane Bullets Saturday night and Mody Maor's team will lock in a top two NBL spot and avoid the playoff tournament.

The equation is even simpler if The Taipans lose on the road to the Perth Wildcats on Friday night.

The Adelaide 36ers made the most of a nine-day break to snap a five-game losing streak and put a dent in the top two hopes of the Cairns Taipans with Antonius Cleveland inspiring Monday night's 99-96 win.

The Taipans and 36ers had played two remarkable games already this season trading wins with some wild momentum swings, and Monday night to close Round 17 at Cairns Convention Centre was no less dramatic.

The Snakes were again without Keanu Pinder who suffered an orbital fracture on Wednesday night and were playing a third game in six days while the Sixers were fresh having not played since dropping a fifth straight game last Saturday to Melbourne United.

The two teams put on quite the spectacle with some dramatic momentum swings throughout with the 36ers leading by nine late in the first half before Sam Waardenburg lifted his team to the last 12 points with 19 points to the break for a 53-50 lead.

The Snakes managed to lead by 10 late in the third but the 36ers continued to respond and the last quarter was largely a trading bucket affair. That was until Cleveland decided to take over and put his Superman cape on once more for Adelaide.

Down the stretch, he scored 11 of his 27 points and then made the biggest play of the night on the last possession. After he had just missed two free-throws, Cairns had one last chance to tie scores up down three.

Tahjere McCall was bringing the ball up the floor, but Cleveland stole it off him, the Sixers grabbed possession and time expired for the three-point win.

It snaps a five-game losing slide for the 36ers to improve them to a 12-14 record on the season.

While for the Taipans, it takes destiny out of their own hands in terms of finishing top two. They are 17-10 with a game in Perth on Friday remaining, but if New Zealand wins both the Breakers will claim second.

It was a high quality affair from both teams with just the combined 18 turnovers while Adelaide shot 52 per cent from the floor and 13/26 at the three-point line with Cairns going 43 per cent overall and 14/36 from deep.

Cleveland delivered 27 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals for Adelaide with 4/6 from deep while Robert Franks nailed 4/5 from beyond the arc for 20 points, nine boards and five assists.

Kai Sotto added 12 points, Ian Clark 11 points and three assists, and Daniel Johnson 11 points and five rebounds.

Sixers coach CJ Bruton was proud of his team to shake off their recent struggles to beat the second placed team on the road.

"Anytime you get a win it feels good, but after where we've been at and the fight we've had to go through with a losing streak, to come up here and get a win was definitely tough," Bruton said.

"But I like the way that our boys stuck with it and fought. Clearly the first quarter was solid for us with where we've been at and I was happy with the effort, and clearly at the end there was a few breakdowns which happens every game. 

"But I was just happy with our resilience to keep fighting for where we've been at. The energy was good in the group when we flew up here yesterday and hit the practice court where earlier in the week you would have thought there was a funeral somewhere."

Sam Waardenburg set a new NBL career high with 26 points for Cairns with DJ Hogg adding 26 points and eight rebounds, Bul Kuol 15 points and six rebounds, and Ben Ayre 11 points.

Taipans coach Adam Forde felt his team had their chances and it was always going to come down to who had the momentum at the end with Adelaide.

"We had our chances, right," Forde said.

"It was going to be that type of momentum swinging game back and forth, there's a lot of similarities between us and Adelaide with our style of play. 

"We came out of the gates really flat at both ends and it showed. There's a part if you think it might be the three games in six days, it might be the point of the season where it's just a bit of a grind and we've got some sore bodies. 

"Then what was really good was the boys picked up and got it back to where we made it a one-point game at the end of the first. Then we got on a bit of a run, they went on a run and at the end of the game, it wasn’t without its chances. 

"We go back and reflect, and we messed up on a couple of rotations through no one's real fault. We could argue about what was or wasn't a foul, but the reality is that we had our chances on multiple instances. It was pleasing in the sense that we stayed competitive, but it's still a loss."

Adelaide started on fire beginning with the first six points through Kai Sotto and Antonius Cleveland. Tahjere McCall got Cairns on the board but it was just a solitary free-throw with the Sixers then scoring the next six points to lead 12-1.

The Taipans missed their first seven field goals before eventually Bul Kuol got them on the board with a driving layup four minutes into the contest.

The Snakes then worked back into the game with three balls to Ben Ayre and DJ Hogg. Robert Franks responded in kind for Adelaide and the 36ers were again soon on top 22-15 before nine straight Cairns points topped off by a triple from Jonah Antonio.

Anthony Drmic restored Adelaide's lead to 25-24 at quarter-time and then early in the second period the 36ers were back out to a seven-point lead. A triple from Cleveland and another bucket to Sotto had them up eight again soon after, and then a three in transition from Franks made the lead nine.

However, Cairns then finished the half with the last 12 points including the last nine to Waardenburg including his second three-pointer to put the Taipans in front 53-50 on the back of his 19-point performance on a perfect 5/5 shooting and near perfect 7/8 free-throw shooting.

It was a third quarter full of runs from both teams with the Taipans making the first break going up nine on the back of an 11-5 start to the half. When Hogg hit a triple, they were up 64-55 and CJ Bruton called for time.

He got the ideal response with the 36ers scoring the next nine points to tie scores up but then it was time for the Snakes to pull away once more.

When Ayre and Kuol completed the 10-0 run with three-point bombs, the Taipans were up 10 and the Orange Army was roaring. But Adelaide answered with the last eight points including a three from Ian Clark to cut the Snakes advantage to 77-75 at three quarter-time.

Cleveland scored eight straight points for Adelaide to put his team up two but Hogg regained the lead for Cairns with his fourth three-pointer.

Then it was the turn for Franks to nail five consecutive points and that put the Sixers up 94-90 with 3:24 to play.

Not long after Cleveland hit his fourth from long-range to push the 36ers lead out to five and a strong take and finish from Clark kept Adelaide on top three with 31.6 seconds to play.

It was quite the dramatic finish from there. A foul from Kyrin Galloway on Waardenburg was overturned before the Taipans forced the turnover but Shannon Scott couldn’t complete the layup.

Cleveland missed two free-throws and the Snakes had one last chance, but Cleveland was able to force the turnover on McCall at halfcourt and the game was done with Adelaide winning by three.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 17

CAIRNS TAIPANS 96 (Hogg 26, Waardenburg 26, Kuol 15)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 99 (Cleveland 27, Franks 20, Sotto 12) 

BOX SCORE