Rucker: 'Cairns can claim the Shootout'

The Cairns Taipans have the chance to end their season on a high by taking the $50,000 Summer Shootout cash prize against the Bullets. 

With the current score held by the Perth Wildcats at 105, Cairns’ upcoming clash against their Queensland rivals and injury-riddled Brisbane Bullet,s presents the perfect opportunity according to 1990 MVP Derek Rucker.

“Cairns can go over 105 easily against Brisbane, (they) haven’t looked like they want to necessarily slow down the pace,” he said on NBL Now.

“There should be plenty of shots on offer, Perth ran up a big score last night. Now, Cairns doesn’t have Perth’s offensive firepower, they can’t produce those numbers consistently, but in a one-off situation… In the game in which they know they really have to go for it, I think coach Adam Ford will just let it happen.”

Rucker used the Taipans’ showing against the South East Melbourne Phoenix as an example, scoring 102 points against the fourth-best defensive-rated team in the league on Tuesday.

“I think Cairns come into this one really primed to put up a big score,” he said.

“And we know Brisbane again, they have a lot of injury clouds, so I’m not sure how resistant they’re gonna be on the defensive end.”

Given Cairns’ tumultuous season between poorly timed injuries and suspensions, Rucker said that winning the Summer Shootout would be a positive way to end the season.

“If there’s anything to take from this season, if we can salvage anything out of this season, let’s win this damn Summer Shootout and get some cake for our efforts,” he said.

The Bullets will host Cairns on Friday night at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.