Ron Dorsey says the Cairns Taipans will beat the New Zealand Breakers again this Friday to take out the NBL Championship. After the Taipans' 85-81 game two double overtime victory, it's hard to argue with him.
Taipans star import, Ron Dorsey walked out of the home team's change rooms at the Cairns Convention Centre with a satisfied look on his face.
Dressed neatly in his team polo, slacks and dress shoes he was quickly greeted by local media clamouring for his attention.
Dorsey calmly dropped his gym bag, smirked and walked over as though he half-expected it while girlfriend, Carmen Papillon waited a few moments longer, beaming with pride.
The Cairns Taipans had just held off the New Zealand Breakers in game two of the best of three NBL Finals series with an 85-81 double overtime win.
Dorsey's 22-points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists performance clearly made him a standout but his game was better than the stats suggest.
Dorsey hit several clutch shots, including a 30-foot three point basket he described as the 'biggest of my career' at the buzzer to send the game into double overtime. Two plays earlier, he'd drilled a three from an inbounds pass in the front court to make it 70-71. Kirk Penney was then fouled and sank two free throws to set up the late game heroics.
Even though it only sent the game into another overtime, the second three effectively snatched the Doctor John Raschke trophy away from the Breakers.
Instead of sweeping the Taipans, they'll be back in Auckland this Friday night after the Snakes took control in the second overtime.
Half an hour after the game, Dorsey hadn't finished tormenting his Kiwi foes though. Asked if the Taipans could take out game three in New Zealand, Dorsey was succinct.
"We'll beat 'em again. Take my word. We gon' to get it," he said.
Dorsey's swagger also came with a dose of humility. Taipans forward, Alex Loughton was quick to point out that Dorsey thanked his teammates in the locker room after the game.
"That's the kind of players we have in our locker room," Loughton said. "We don't have guys that say, 'Look what I did'. They say, 'Look at what my teammates got for me' and that's a big thing we've got going this year and we've got the right players to take it one step further."
Similarly, Dorsey preached the importance of team camaraderie as well.
"It's 100 percent authentic man," he said. "Everybody just comes together as one. It's one of the best teams I've been on in my career and we just enjoyin' the whole ride with y'all."
"We can beat 'em in New Zealand man. They didn't want to go to a game three with us. We just going to play our hearts out over there.
"It's not going to be the same as game one [an 85-67 loss]. We're going to go over there and play our hearts out."
With that Dorsey politely thanked the reporters and walked over to his partner Carmen, still patiently waiting.
"Baby," she grinned searching for an adjective as they hugged. "That was unbelievable!"
Ron Dorsey and the Taipans hope it wasn't unbelievable. They have to do it again this Friday night in Auckland no less.
Then again, Ron Dorsey did give his word.
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