Apprentice looks to upstage master

Adam Forde has always been high on the ability of Taran Armstrong as an emerging point guard, so was as delighted as anyone to be proven right again in the Cairns Taipans' Friday night home victory.

After regaining one point guard in last Saturday's win over the Adelaide 36ers with Kyle Adnam's return, the Snakes welcomed back star-on-the-rise Armstrong from a calf injury.

He had an immediate impact too and was instrumental in the Snakes opening up a 24-point lead on the Tasmania JackJumpers by early in the second half.

Then even more importantly, he was the one that turned the game the Taipans way for good in the final four minutes, after Tasmania had closed to within four points.

Armstrong was set to be capped at 20 minutes in his return, but ended up playing 29 and was outstanding with 20 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds on 9/10 shooting with the Snakes, outscoring the JackJumpers by 22 points with him out there.

Forde was anything but surprised with what Armstrong was able to produce.

"It just gives a little bit of validation that I'm right again. I knew Taran was going to be good and Taran was good, so I'm right again," Forde said.

"There's a level of stability he brings and even at the end when it started to get a little bit away from us. You chuck Kyle in there too and there's these two level heads who have this calming influence to finish out the game.

"This is what we wanted early on and we're three games in, but you can see the infancy stage of where we're at and the direction we're going in. The boys get around him, so it's good."

Armstrong started his NBL career last season missing the first five games and felt like he was just finding his groove as the campaign ended.

Despite missing the first two matches of NBL25, he felt much more ready to go.

That was clearly evident with his performance and he was pleased to add to what the Snakes did last week to beat Adelaide, and not take away from it.

"Obviously I was in a little bit of a similar position last year and came in and was a bit slow to find my feet," Armstrong said.

"Part of that was being new to the NBL and getting used to the pace, but having a year of experience under my belt it was familiar territory this time.

"I was so excited to play with these guys after watching that performance last week, and I didn’t want to mess that up. They were great to watch and I'm so grateful to be part of this team and I was glad that the transition was seamless and we had success."

Armstrong is now already looking forward to Sunday's matchup against United, who will have Matthew Dellavedova back after the arrival of his daughter on Friday.

He missed the trip to Perth to be there for the birth, but United went and beat the Wildcats by 29 points without him.

Armstrong is now looking forward to taking on the four-time Olympian once again and to keep his unbeaten record going with Cairns against Melbourne.

"I grew up watching Delly and I have followed his journey for a long time, and even last year he was a step above a lot of the other point guards, respectfully," Armstrong said.

"His physicality and leadership, and the qualities that he brings are something that I can see myself doing and trying to implement into my game. It's going to be a great challenge and I'm really excited for it."