Taipans vs Breakers: Te Rangi plays game 400 in Cairns
Web StoryWatch this story in 15 seconds →Key takeaways
- Cairns host New Zealand at Cairns Convention Centre on Sunday, October 25, 2026.
- Reuben Te Rangi plays his 400th NBL game, a rare mark in league history.
- New Zealand play without head coach Gordon Herbert, who is ill at home.
Cairns host New Zealand today in the NBL. The game is a Round 6 clash at Cairns Convention Centre. It tips off at 3 in the afternoon Sydney time.
That is 9 in the morning PKT. The game will be shown live on ESPN. Both teams enter the game with 4 wins and 4 losses.
One man stands at the heart of this game. Reuben Te Rangi plays his 400th NBL game today. He does it in Cairns, far from his home crowd.
The Breakers also face a testing twist today. Their head coach will not travel with the team. Gordon Herbert is ill and must stay home in New Zealand.
What happened
The NBL confirmed the game details on October 25, 2026. Cairns host New Zealand in Round 6 of the season. The venue is Cairns Convention Centre in Queensland.
Both teams need this win badly. A win lifts the winner to 5 wins and 4 losses. A loss drops the loser to 4 wins and 5 losses.
The game is also the second meeting this season. New Zealand won the first meeting by a big margin. They beat Cairns 98-75 on September 30 in Auckland.
That result gives New Zealand belief today. But a road game in Cairns is a fresh test. Cairns have won both home games this season.
For fans of close basketball games, our Warriors vs Suns preview covers another big weekend clash. That game also turned on missing star players.
A 400 game milestone
Te Rangi will become just the 55th player in league history to reach 400 games. That fact comes from the NBL itself. It shows how rare this mark truly is.
The 32 year old first joined the NBL in the 2012-13 season. He started as a development player with New Zealand. A development player is a young squad member learning the pro game.
He won two titles with New Zealand in that first spell. The titles came in the 2012-13 and 2014-15 seasons. He then moved to Brisbane ahead of the 2016-17 season.
Four seasons in Brisbane brought two more honours. He won Most Improved and Sixth Man of the Year in 2018-19. Sixth Man means the best player off the bench.
He then played four seasons with South East Melbourne. He spent last season with Tasmania in 2024-25. He returned to New Zealand for this season.
Across 15 seasons, his totals tell a steady story. He has scored 2,017 points in the league. He has grabbed 947 rebounds and made 286 assists.
A rebound is winning the ball after a missed shot. An assist is a pass that leads straight to a score. His numbers show a long and steady career.
Te Rangi also won bronze with New Zealand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. That is a major multi-sport event for Commonwealth nations. He helped his country reach the podium there.
He helped New Zealand win the first Ignite Cup Final too. That win came against Adelaide earlier in his return spell. The Ignite Cup is a new in-season cup event.
Te Rangi spoke about the milestone with pride and thanks. He called 400 games over 15 years crazy. He thanked his partner, his kids, and his parents.
He also thanked every team mate from his career. He said the milestone belongs to all of them too. He still wants one more prize most of all.
A title with his home town club would mean the most. He said a title is the peak of every season. Winning one back where he started would be even better.
A coach stays home
Gordon Herbert will miss the Cairns trip through illness. The NBL confirmed the news on October 24, 2026. The club said he must stay home to recover.
A club spokesperson said Herbert is already getting better. He wanted to make the trip to Cairns. Doctors advised him to stay home for a few days instead.
Herbert will stay in touch with the team all weekend. He will speak with the players and coaches from home. He will return when the team comes back from Cairns.
His next game in charge should be on October 30. New Zealand host Adelaide that day at Spark Arena. That is also a home game for the Breakers.
Sebastian Gleim will lead the team in Cairns. He steps in as head coach for this game. Gleim knows Te Rangi well from youth national teams.
Gleim said nothing changes for the team this weekend. He said the focus stays on what New Zealand can do better. He said the team must impose its own game on Cairns.
Te Rangi will mark his milestone without his head coach courtside. That adds a strange twist to a proud day. The team must still play its own game.
A star guard returns
Parker Jackson-Cartwright returns to the Breakers lineup today. The NBL confirmed his return on October 25, 2026. He missed time with a lower leg injury.
Jackson-Cartwright is the Breakers point guard. A point guard runs the attack and sets up team mates. He was in MVP talks before his injury.
MVP means Most Valuable Player of the league. He averaged 26.6 points per game before the injury. He also averaged 9.4 assists per game.
He shot the three point shot at 42 percent. A three point shot is a long shot worth 3 points. Those numbers show why his return matters so much.
His return may come with a minutes limit at first. That means he may play fewer minutes than usual. The team will ease him back after the layoff.
Carlin Davison stepped up well while he was out. Davison made 36 assists in three games as point guard. That is a league leading mark in that spell.
Sam Mennenga also starred in recent games. He scored 27 points against Sydney in an upset win. He grabbed 13 rebounds in that same game.
He then scored 36 points against Tasmania. That run shows New Zealand have more than one threat. Cairns cannot focus on just one player today.
For another Australian game today, read our Sydney FC vs Adelaide United preview. That game also kicks off on Sunday in Australia.
Why Cairns can win
Cairns have clear reasons to believe today. They have won both home games this season. A home crowd can lift a team in tight moments.
Jack McVeigh gives Cairns a real scoring threat. Keanu Pinder and Malique Lewis add speed and power. That trio can trouble any defence in the league.
But Cairns must fix their defence from last weekend. They lost 115-83 to South East Melbourne last weekend. That heavy loss ended three straight wins.
Three straight wins had built real hope in Cairns. The heavy loss was a sharp reality check. Cairns must show that loss was a blip, not a trend.
A blip is a one-off bad result. A trend is a pattern that keeps repeating. Today will tell us which one it was.
New Zealand lost their last game too. They lost 98-92 away to Tasmania JackJumpers. That was a close road loss, not a heavy defeat.
New Zealand have the better defence on paper. They give up around 89 points per game. Cairns give up around 97.5 points per game.
That gap of more than 8 points matters. Defence wins close games late in the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter is the final period of the game.
Cairns must defend better than they did last weekend. If they do, their home record gives them hope. If they do not, New Zealand can punish them.
What the last meeting tells us
The first meeting this season was one-sided. New Zealand won 98-75 in Auckland on September 30. That is a 23 point winning margin.
Cairns will want revenge for that loss today. Revenge here means paying back a defeat with a win. A home win would also level the season series.
But past meetings also favour New Zealand strongly. Sportsgambler notes New Zealand have won 9 of the last 10 meetings. They have also won the last three in a row.
That record will worry Cairns fans today. It will also give New Zealand quiet belief. Yet every streak ends somewhere, and home court helps.
Cairns have already shown they can win at home. They beat two visitors at this venue this season. A third home win would be a big statement.
A statement win tells the league a team is serious. It would lift Cairns above New Zealand in the table. It would also end a losing run in this fixture.
Our Seattle Sounders playoff preview shows how one result can change a season race. The same is true in the NBL today.
What happens next
The winner today takes a clear early edge. They move to 5 wins and 4 losses. That is a winning record after nine games.
The loser falls to 4 wins and 5 losses. That is still close to the top half. But the gap to the leaders would start to grow.
New Zealand return home after this road trip. They host Adelaide on October 30 at Spark Arena. That will be a rare home game for the Breakers.
Te Rangi hopes to celebrate his milestone there too. He wants family and friends at that home game. He grew up in Manurewa in Auckland.
His team mates call him Koro, a Maori word for grandfather. He joked that they skipped a generation or two. He thinks big bro or uncle would fit better.
The joke shows his standing in the team. Young players look up to him and tease him. He takes it with a smile and keeps working.
For Cairns, the next games will test their response. A win today erases the bad loss last weekend. A loss today would raise fresh doubts about defence.
Either way, today is a day to remember in Cairns. A 400 game milestone does not come around often. A home crowd will witness a piece of league history.
The ball tips off at 3 in the afternoon Sydney time. That is 9 in the morning PKT for fans here. Do not miss the first minutes of this one.
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