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Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers NBL26 Round 17 Tips - Taipans make it 3 in a row

Jeremy Darke

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Last updated: Wed 14 Jan 2026 11:38

Jeremy Darke 14 Jan 2026

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Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers expert predictions for Saturday’s Round 17 NBL matchup
Tip-off is at 7:00 PM AEDT at RAC Arena
Cairns Taipans looking to leverage recent good form.
Andrew Andrews’ playmaking (13 assists average) crucial.

Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers NBL26 Round 17 Tips

Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers NBL25 Round 17 Expert Tips

Saturday night at Hoops Fest will kick off with a bottom of the table clash between Cairns vs New Zealand and I’m going to take the underdog Taipans to claim victory.

Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers NBL25 Round 17 Expert Tips
Head to Head
Cairns Taipans Form & Team News
New Zealand Breakers Form & Team News
Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers Frequently Asked Questions

Last time the pair met, Jack McVeigh dropped 47 points as Cairns snuck home 99-95 in North Queensland. I am not expecting the former Viper to go that large again on the court at RAC Arena, but you have to play on form in these contests and the Taipans are starting to find a better version of basketball.

Cairns import Andrew Andrews is controlling absolutely everything on offence, tallying 13 assists in each of his last 2 matches and has a season average of 7.4 per game (3rd in NBL). Andrews is finding his scorers in McVeigh, Waardenburg and now even Kyrin Galloway who stepped up last round.

The Breakers could show up and blast them, but they haven’t won two straight since the beginning of December and they played well against the Hawks last time out, so as petty as that is, they are due to lose again.

We should see a good amount of offence in this game, as we have in their two meetings this season. With Galloway scoring well over the last two matches, another 10 points isn’t so far fetched at a decent price. 10 assists from Andrews is juicy at $2.50 as well.

Cairns has won 2 straight matches.
The game total has hit the over in the last 3 matches between Cairns and New Zealand.
Kyrin Galloway has 13 points and 19 points in his last 2 matches for Cairns.
Andrew Andrews has tallied 26 assists in his last two matches.

Head to Head

Last 5 Match Results

Date	Home Team	Score	Line	Total Points
19/12/2025	CAI	CAI 99-95	CAI +3.5	O 179.0
22/11/2025	CAI	NZB 102-96	NZB -3.0	O 175.0
01/02/2025	NZB	NZB 99-92	NZB +3.5	O 179.5
31/12/2024	CAI	NZB 92-68	NZB +7.0	U 180.0
16/11/2024	CAI	NZB 77-69	NZB -2.5	U 172.5

Offensive & Defensive Rankings

CNS Off	Rank	Stat	Rank	NZB Def
82.8	10	PPG	6	90.3
38	10	RPG	6	42
44.4%	9	FG%	7	46.1%
33.7%	4	3P%	3	31.1%
13.5	8	TOV	4	12.6

CNS Def	Rank	Stat	Rank	NZB Off
95.5	9	PPG	7	88
42.9	9	RPG	6	41.9
46.3%	8	FG%	8	44.6%
29.8%	2	3P%	9	29.0%
7.8	10	TOV	7	12

Cairns Taipans Form & Team News

Cairns hadn’t won two straight games since the second and third matches of the season until round 16 where they took down Melbourne United 93-92 in their Ignite Cup match and beat big brother Brisbane 88-83 on Monday night.

Two much more consistent performances from Cairns as a whole and also individually with Jack McVeigh scoring 20+25 points in the two matches and Andrew Andrews delivering 13 assists in each of the two matches as well. The Taipans also got the most out of Kyrin Galloway who scored in double-digits in consecutive games for just the second time this season.

The key for the Taipans now is to keep it rolling and continue to play for all four quarters in the match, which they came close to doing in Round 16, but there is still room for improvement.

New Zealand Breakers Form & Team News

New Zealand Breakers form is a real mystery and I’ll be honest, as many basketball experts will also jump on the train, I certainly can’t predict which team will show up on the court on what day.

From one week the Breakers shoot at 33.8% from the field and 16.2% from three against Sydney to the next time on the court against Illawarra they have a 50.7 FG% and a 31.3 3P% with a 39-point difference in scoring.

Sam Mennenga shot 2 of 8 and Parker Jackson-Cartwright went one better with 1 from 9 against Sydney, but both bounced back against the Hawks, scoring 21 points and 23 points respectively. It is clear that when up against strong defensive teams, the Breakers will struggle.

Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers Frequently Asked Questions

What time does Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers start?

Tip-off between Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers is at 7:00 PM AEDT, Saturday, January 17

What channel is Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers on?

You can watch Cairns Taipans vs New Zealand Breakers on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel.

Verdict

Cairns Taipans v New Zealand Breakers

Kyrin Galloway will score 10+ as Andrew Andrews tallies 10+ assists with Cairns going onto win in a match that has a game total over 182.5 points.

Cairns Taipans

Handicap/Line

$2.35 - 2 Units

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Over 182.5

Game Total

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Kyrin Galloway

10+ Points

$1.85 - 3 Units

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Andrew Andrews

10+ Rebounds

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