Forde to "embrace darkness"

Adam Forde couldn't fault the effort his Cairns Taipans players gave on Saturday night, but after six straight losses, the impact of not having a full roster at his disposal is clear. 

The Taipans were missing Pedro Bradshaw (ankle), Taran Armstrong (ankle), Tanner Groves (calf) and Kyle Adnam (shoulder) for the clash against the Brisbane Bullets, while injury replacement player Deshon Taylor only arrived in the country on Saturday. 

The Snakes found themselves leading by 12 points against the Bullets early in the fourth quarter, but as the pressure went up with the game on the line, the more the absence of those key and experienced players was felt.

"Jackson (Makoi), for example, has been fantastic, but there's still that experience factor of what's required and Rob's (Edwards) not a point guard so the ball's moving a little bit freely," Forde said.

"We were still up four with three minutes to go, but even the possessions before that we had two shot clock violations, and Alex (Higgins-Titsha) did have a great game, but he turns it over driving into traffic, just because he's in a pretty intense moment that he's probably never experienced before.

"We've got a lot of guys out there still learning how to win, because we have a lot of our main guys cheering them on.

"We can sit here and talk about moral victories, but the reality is this is now six in a row and it would have been nice to get one or two.

"The burden on the guys coming back is now higher, because we've dropped six in a row. It would have been nice to get a couple and not put so much pressure on them to come in and be the difference-makers for us."

Cairns did an impressive job to shake off Sunday's 43-point loss in Melbourne, but the reality is the Taipans are now 3-7 on the season. 

"They are down in the change-room hurting and I'm looking at half of these guys and none of them were playing minutes in the NBL last year," Forde said.

"Some of them were DP's in the NBL last year, but they just came out and played their absolute hearts out, and one extra pair of hands whether it was DT (Taylor) or Taran out there in the fourth to help steer it would have been a massive difference for them.

"You can't help but remain positive and I'm the type of guy that embraces the darkness anyway, and we're in the thick of it right now. If you don't enjoy these moments and come out the other end better for it, then don't get involved in coaching."

Taylor will add some quality and experience to the back court of the Taipans starting next week in Melbourne against the Phoenix, having just arrived in Cairns on Saturday.

His previous stint in the NBL was alongside Forde at the Sydney Kings, when he was assistant coach, and the pair have stayed in touch since.

"It was Fordey, we've been talking for the last two years now on and off," Taylor said of why he came to Cairns.

"He called me after I got home like a week ago from Israel, and just as some other teams were in contact, but as soon as he called me I told him 'yes'.

"I'm familiar with him, I've been watching this team the last two seasons and I feel like this fits with my game so I came here."