DrinkWise Preview: NBL26 - Round 21, Game 1 v Cairns Taipans

We are set to head on the road this Thursday for our final away matchup of the regular season when we face off against the Cairns Taipans from 7:30pm.

After dominating the Taipans across our first two meetings against them this season, a one-point defeat in Bendigo will surely act as motivation for revenge when we head to Far North Queensland.

In what has been a difficult season for Cairns, two wins in their last four games, with the two losses coming in competitive contests, will have the team feeling confident when they take the court in front of their home crowd. 

WHAT’S THE WORD?

Looking ahead to Thursday, import guard Tyson Walker broke down the mindset within the playing group.

“Everything's still positive,” Walker explained. 

“We’ve still got to do our job, still got to go out there and play the right way, so now it's just all about what you can do to win a game, all the little things.

“Every game is important. You want to go into finals on the right foot, so just making sure we're playing a good brand of basketball. We're just trying to focus on each game and win each game the right way.”

WHO’S HOT, WHO'S NOT

As we aimed to overcome a large final quarter deficit in Round 20, Milton Doyle did all he could to provide a scoring punch off the bench.

The star guard tallied 11 fourth-quarter points, helping bring us within a single bucket of tying up the contest.

Doyle has tallied the second most double-digit fourth quarters (five) this season.

Looking to match Doyle for the Taipans will be his former teammate, Jack McVeigh, who has been one of the league’s best scorers this season.

McVeigh has tallied 20 or more points in seven of Cairns’ nine wins this season.

DETAILS

Who: Melbourne United vs Cairns Taipans 

Tip-off: 7:30pm AEDT, Thursday 12 February, 2026

Where: Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns

Watch: ESPN

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