Cairns Taipans (9th) v New Zealand (7th)
Saturday, January 17, 7pm AEDT (4pm AWST)
RAC Arena
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Talking points
NBA eyes
NBA scouts will flock to RAC Arena throughout HoopsFest, with many eyes locked into this game to see Karim Lopez in person.
The Mexican Next Star has been sensational since he first arrived in the NBL and has shown remarkable improvement, which has him high on the projected draft boards.
While Lopez will be a focus, there are also plenty of other young stars like Sam Mennenga, who could only help their NBA chances with a good showing.
Staying in the hunt
The Breakers did what they had to do against the Hawks on Sunday and that was to bounce back from arguably their worst performance of the season just 48 hours prior.
If this team is to make a late top six push, they need to keep winning and hope that Tasmania stumble above them.
With all that said and done, the only thing that matters for New Zealand is putting one front in front of the other and taking care of business.
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What they’re saying
Cairns forward Jack McVeigh on the improvement of teammate Kyrin Galloway:
“KG the last couple of months has fixed some stuff up off the court and his habits are getting better, his eating is getting better and he’s lifting smarter, and getting in there and getting more work in.
“The two go hand in hand and how you treat your life is how the game will bounce back and reward you so he’s starting to see the reward for putting in that work over the last couple of months.
“So that’s been good to see and it’s good to see him going out there being aggressive and improving each week.”
Breakers coach Petteri Koponen on his team’s character:
“We are not that bad of a team that what we showed last time against Sydney and this was a great way to respond [against Illawarra].
“We were much better with the energy, the fight and everything was there, and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but at least you want to see that competitiveness every time and we came here to compete.
“You can see the frustration in the locker room in their faces, but mentally this was a strong performance and a way to bounce back.”
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Missing in action
Cairns
Alex Higgins-Titsha – Wrist – Season
Reyne Smith – Foot – Round 19
Sam Waardenburg – Ankle – Round 22
New Zealand
Izayah Le’Afa – Foot – Season
>> View full injury list
