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DOES that make it official now? Cairns suffering its 14th loss with four NBL games left means the first of last year's grand finalists cannot make the playoffs.

Of course yes, if they win their last four games, the planets align, every conceivable result they need falls their way then, maybe.

But come on now. The margin for error becomes so much tighter with every growing digit in the L column that Cairns has been toying with elimination for weeks now.

Not beating Perth in Perth is no great shame.

TRIGGER HAPPY: Cam Tragardh fires in this bucket over Townsville's Leon Henry.

The shame is the season having to rely on results such as that. The Taipans should get Sydney and maybe Townsville and even Adelaide has fallen to them before. So too New Zealand.

But instead of "can they still?" being the question of OrangeArmy diehards, "what happened?" might be better.

Last year Cairns was a grand finalist and into that lineup came Mark Worthington, a proven winner. Coach Aaron Fearne also added to his coaching staff by hiring multiple grand finalists coach Gordie McLeod as his assistant.

Losing star import playmaker Scottie Wilbekin was a huge loss but Markel Starks was a solid pick-up and Shaun Bruce has continued to emerge.

The difference, it seems, is the season preparation for 2014-15 was so much better, the roster settled early, working together and with spartan injuries, Cairns set up its season by getting off to a flyer.

In their opening run of six straight wins, four were on the road in Adelaide, Melbourne, Wollongong and Auckland, building confidence, momentum and the season foundation.

Cairns also was en route to a 9-5 road record, which, coupled with its 12-2 mark at home, gave the club its first regular season championship.

Let's be honest now. With the exception of dropping Game 1 of the Grand Final at home and of Ekene Ibekwe hitting that famous championship-winning jumper in Auckland, Cairns had a dream season.

Repeating that always was going to be challenging. But the Taipans also didn't have a lot of injury niggles in that run either.

And while adding Wortho shored up the lineup, pretty much every team in the NBL made substantial off-season gains that again meant the Taipans' margin for error in 2015-16 was going to be slim.

They've had some memorable moments - Torrey Craig's first quarter freak buzzer-beater against NZ last round, Starks' match-winning three in Adelaide, beating Perth - but consistency has been a huge issue.

Last night in Perth, with Casey Prather out of the Wildcats' lineup, their bench depth still shone through in Shawn Redhage's milestone 350th game. Greg Hire, for example, had his best match of the season with his 14 points including 3-of-4 triples.

It was always going to be a test for Cairns with the travel component but the Taipans still can play spoiler for Adelaide and New Zealand as both clubs battle for that fourth position.

Don't doubt they will be trying.

Last night: PERTH WILDCATS 84 (Beal 15, Hire 14, Jawai 13, Martin, Knight 11; Knight 11 rebs; Beal, Martin 6 assts) d CAIRNS TAIPANS 74 (Gliddon 16, Starks 15, Tragardh 9; Burston 8 rebs; 3 with 3 assts) at The Jungle, Perth Arena.