Taipans Claim United “Targeted” Star

Cairns could be without their MVP, Keanu Pinder, this weekend with coach Adam Forde labelling him “doubtful”, after what he claims were “questionable tactics” employed by Melbourne United.

Pinder was in a moonboot at training yesterday and the team is awaiting MRI results to reveal the full extent of the injury.

Forde believes Pinder was directly pinpointed by United and isn’t getting protected.

“It’s one thing to send a double team, it’s another thing to have guards sliding in at all different angles to try and draw, whether it’s a charge, a block, or a no call, regardless of what the officials call it, the result is Keanu is picking himself up off the floor. That’s jeopardising his ankles, that’s jeopardising his health,” Forde bluntly stated.

“I’m asking for protection for Keanu out there because they [United] make no secret about him being targeted, they make no secret about him being a key focus of their defence, but the reality is he’s so dynamic, he’s so athletic and so gifted that they don’t have anybody necessarily capable of defending him one on one.

“We will see how he pulls up in the next couple of days … this jeopardies our season because we don’t have the luxury to bring someone else in, [like] an NBA champion in mid-season.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Keanu Pinder SLAMMING it down early. The big man tweaked his ankle though - here&#39;s hoping he comes back into the game ?<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/F3YCsm8Hgh">pic.twitter.com/F3YCsm8Hgh</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1606210500861169664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Averaging 17.9 points and 9.9 rebounds, Pinder is on his way to becoming an unstoppable force.

“They want to talk about MVP contentions, but he is still being spoken to and treated like a scrub out there. If the message is nobody is going to protect him, you need to think about what he is going to do for his future,” Forde added.

“His career is potentially going to take off, financially rewarding for him. There’s a level of how much does he want to jeopardise that knowing that some of the tactics that are being employed by how teams defend him could rule him out for the rest of the year.”