Cairns Taipans told to rally
COACH Aaron Fearne says the Taipans' turnaround has to be a team exercise rather than an individual one.
The Taipans lost consecutive games at the weekend to drop from third to seventh on a tight NBL ladder and face two testing games on the road this week starting in Wollongong tomorrow.
Pictures: Cairns Taipans 2009-10
"We’re all pros and we’ve played the game and coached it for a long time," Fearne said when asked how the team moved forward after Saturday night’s demoralising loss.
"You just have to let it go.
"It’s not an individual thing, it’s a team thing.
"We’ve got to all rally together and stay positive.’’
While the Taipans sit in second-last place – and would have dropped to the bottom of the ladder if Melbourne had beaten the Wildcats in Perth on Sunday – Fearne said Adelaide’s rally on Saturday showed every team was dangerous.
"You’ve got to be ready to play any team,’’ he said.
"Adelaide had had their butts whipped two times in a row and (on Saturday) they came out and whipped our butt.
"That’s that fine edge. It’s a TV game Wednesday. We felt we should have got Wollongong when we were down there (last time) but we’ve got another chance to get them.
"And then we get the chance to go back and play Adelaide on their court.’’
The Taipans are still struggling for cohesion in offence and Fearne said their struggles were affecting them at both ends of the court.
"That’s putting more pressure on our D (defence) because we’ve got to defend extremely, extremely well and for long periods of time,’’ he said.
"When you make shots you feel good, you play a little harder
defensively.
"We’ve defended pretty well at times but offensively we’re still spluttering and guys are still trying to find their shot and just learning to trust each other.
"It’s just not there and everything’s a battle.’’
But a quarter of the way through the fixture season he was not ready to hit the panic button.
"All you can do is keep working on it. It’ll get there, we’ll be pretty tough to defend when we get going.
"It’s just a patience thing. What we do if difficult to run and it’s going to take a lot of time.
"We’re seven games in. Ask me that in another seven games, you might have a different
answer.’’
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