Keanu Pinder sparks Taipans upset as United fall apart

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NBL legend and commentator Derek Rucker has boldly declared the Cairns Taipans can "beat anyone, anywhere, anytime" after a fourth-quarter comeback helped Adam Forde's team snap a two-game losing streak and beat Melbourne United 107-95 at John Cain Arena.

Import point guard Jaylon Brown found his form with 14 points in the final period to lead the Taipans back from a nine-point deficit at three-quarter time for Cairns to record their second win of the season and send United to their second consecutive defeat.

While Brown exploded in the fourth to earn Player of the Game honours, big man Keanu Pinder was the best across all four quarters for the visitors with 27 points, going 10-from-14 from the field, as sharpshooter Reyne Smith (21 points) and marquee man Jack McVeigh (20 points) also had significant contributions to ease the pressure on their head coach.

Having four players score 20 points or above was enough for the Taipans to overcome 40 points from United import and former NBA guard Cole Anthony, who fouled out in the dying minutes.

"If they play like this, they can beat anyone, anywhere, anytime," Rucker said on the NBL broadcast.

Brown, who has had a slow start to his first NBL season, said he needed to perform after a "shooting slump" in the first four games.

"I'm just trying to find my rhythm and the first half I was thinking I just need to keep shooting and stay confident in my shots and my teammates were picking me up, so they were making me feel better about myself," he said in the post-game interview.

"I just felt good in the second half, I made a couple of turnovers and then sat out and rested my mind and came back in and tried to make some plays."

Brown said his team just needed to stay together in the fourth to give themselves a chance of victory despite a nine-point deficit at the last break.

"We had a good practice yesterday and talked to each other about just staying together even when things are not going our way," he said.

"That's what we did."

NBL fans finally got to see the real Jaylon Brown after some well-deserved hype following his recruitment to Cairns and the 32-year-old said "you just feel it" when it's time to take over a game.

"It was the right time at that moment (in the fourth to go one-on-one) but I've got to give it to my teammates who just gave me confidence that my shots were going to drop," he said.

Brown almost added an early nominee for dunk of the season after being fouled on a drive and throwdown attempt by United forward Kyle Bowen, which just missed.

The win puts the Taipans at 2-3 and still without Jaylin Galloway and Next Star Luke Paul while United find themselves in an early-season slump at 1-3 under new coach Jacob Chance.

Shea Ili's return wasn't enough to spark Melbourne to victory with the star-studded roster failing to get going, even though they were still missing Chris Goulding.

New recruit in former Taipan, Sam Waardenburg, is yet to make his mark with the NBL heavyweights while Joe Ingles couldn't lead United to victory off the bench and Malith Machar could only manage 14 minutes playing time despite being the team's second-leading scorer with 14 points.

Cairns next host Brisbane on Thursday while Melbourne travel to Adelaide for a rematch against the 36ers in the Ignite Cup.