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MINUS superstar import Milton Doyle, Tasmania still turned the tables - and the screws - on New Zealand in Auckland, but it was no fairytale finish for interim 36ers coach Scott Ninnis in Adelaide, Cairns overwhelming his team with a decisive 31-17 final quarter avalanche.

The JackJumpers opened with import playmaker Jordon Crawford on a mission, scoring 12 of their first 14 points as Tasmania looked more aggressive, building a 14-7 buffer.

JJs coach Scott Roth then pulled a rare blunder, subbing seldom-used Lachlan Barker in to defend Breakers import playmaker Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

The previously scoreless PJC responded immediately with consecutive 3-pointers, showing no regard for Barker's defence as New Zealand seized the momentum.

Jackson-Cartwright enjoyed a 13-point first quarter, Barker's only stat the two fouls he committed to put PJC at the line, New Zealand now 24-21 ahead.

The Breakers looked set to take a lead into the first break but a calculated running long-range missile from Jack McVeigh to close the period changed that, Tassie up 26-24 after one.

Its 23-8 second period ended this as a contest, Tasmania continuing to grow in confidence and stature and New Zealand despairing as more and more the calls - some bordering on ridiculous - went against them.

That's not to detract from the JackJumpers but instead from the officiating crew of Vaughan Mayberry, American import Ken Widgeon and Jacqui Dover, a crew the NBL appears to love having as a unit but which did the Breakers no favours.

Cairns and Illawarra fans can rightly bleat about how poorly they consistently are treated by officiating crews when they face big-city "name" teams, but New Zealand is on a whole other level and is routinely disadvantaged. Only against Australia's NBL teams of course. No-one else.

Crawford continued to carve up the Breakers and foul issues for Anthony Lamb meant New Zealand needed someone to step up. Sadly Finn Delany - once touted as New Zealand's answer to Mitch Creek but more often these days a potential resident of Schitt's Creek - was not one who did.

McVeigh was McNificent, Will Magnay produced a 12-12 points-boards double, Majok Deng's 14 points came on 6-of-8 shooting, Crawford leading from the front and Tasmania out by as many as 22 points as the Breakers broke.  

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 97 (Crawford 30, McVeigh 20, Deng 14, Magnay 12; Magnay 12 rebs; Krslovic 4 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 80 (Jackson-Cartwright 25, Lamb 15, Mathiang 11, Rubstavicius, Le'afa 10; Lamb 9 rebs; Jackson-Cartwright 6 assts) at Spark Arena. Crowd: 4,908

HATS off to interim 36ers coach Scotty Ninnis. In his first two-season stint as Adelaide coach more than a decade ago, he at least had two preseasons of preparation. After a week of total turmoil in the city of church mice, Ninnis basically had two trainings of preparation.

And unlike Illawarra, which had its players hungry and ready to win when Justin Tatum was handed the Hawks' keys, Ninnis inherited a fractured group, some players allegedly to be kept from the rotation, a captain losing his cool over the "snitching" and "throwing people under the bus" that had become part-and-parcel of this shemozzle, and who finally implored this array of disparate talent to "get stops" and win.

Cairns stuck nine 3-pointers in a 35-26 first quarter, Adelaide's best perimeter defender - do you remember the days when Sunday Dech was Bul Kuol? - anchored to the bench.

Get stops and win?

Ultimately the 36ers surrendered 116 points. Ninnis has an unenviable bucketload of work to do to make this team anything but the last-placed loser everyone predicted in the preseason.

They started with renewed vigour and led 25-23 before Bobi Klintman - who had four 3-pointers for the period and a highlight-reel quality dunk - and Jonah Antonio hit a pair of triples each in a 12-0 run to the first quarter break, the Taipans cruising 35-25 before Alex Starling cut that by a free throw.

The immediately noticeable difference in Adelaide was its occasional attention to defensive details and that centreman Isaac Humphries was an early offensive focus.

Humphries repaid the faith by finishing with 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting, with nine rebounds, two assists and a steal and with Dejan Vasiljevioc hitting shots - he took 26 and made 10 for his 30 points, far too many attempts frankly - Adelaide clawed back.

Despite Tahjere McCall being on track for a record 15-assist haul, the most basket gimmes in 40 minute NBL games, Pat Miller finding his range and Sam Waardenburg again being solid instead of just stolid, Adelaide managed to keep abreast of the Orangemen.

The 36ers tasted the lead in the third period and still led 91-89 with 8:13 left in the last on another Humphries move.

Waardenburg and Lat Mayen conspired to build Cairns' lead, Jacob Wiley (16 points, 7 rebounds) briefly interrupting as the Taipans rolled on to 100-93, an 11-2 run.

This is where much of Ninnis' urgent work came undone as the 36ers reverted to old (bad) habits, Vasiljevic over-dribbling trying to create shots for himself, Trey Kell also guilty as Humphries was starved on the block and Cairns fed on the Sixers' folly to finish the match on a 27-10 run.

CAIRNS TAIPANS 116 (Miller 26, Klintman 22, McCall 19, Kuol 14, Waardenburg, Antonio 12; Waardenburg 9 rebs; McCall 15 assts) d ADELAIDE 36ERS 101 (Vasiljevic 30, Humphries 22, Kell 21, Wiley 16; Humphries 9 rebs; Kell 6 assts) at Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 8,954.