Vickerman: United trending the right way

For the first time all season, Melbourne United sit outside the Hungry Jack’s NBL's top four, after losing to Adelaide on Saturday night.

That defeat was United’s fifth from their past eight fixtures, leaving them in a precarious position heading into the penultimate round of the regular season.

Despite the result and the prospects of now contesting the 2026 Play-In fixture, Dean Vickerman is confident his side is heading in the right direction.

“We did a lot of things really well [against Adelaide], but we're disappointed that the extra 16 shots that we had compared to them, that we weren't able to be efficient enough with those.

“Our process to get good shots was pretty on point, so now it’s on us to finish off those offensive sets and defensive plays.

“We know there’s room for improvement there [and I’m confident we will get there], it’s just important we don’t have those errors at key times, which led to us dropping our energy.

“We have just got to continue to make the right play, feed off that energy and let it snowball [into other parts of our game].”

United’s next chance to improve on that comes on Thursday night in Cairns, against the ninth-placed Taipans.

”Every team in the league right now has continued to compete, to either win for their fans or to [gain some momentum] going into next year,” Vickerman said.

“Cairns is no exception, and they beat us last time we played them, in a really tight game.

“They always have a strong belief that they can compete with anyone when in front of their home fans.

“We know we’re in for a great contest on Thursday, so we’re going to have to fight for every possession.”

Echoing his coach’s thoughts was electric guard Tyson Walker, who is averaging 13.7 points and 4.6 assists per game this season.

“We're just trying to win games and do it however we have to do it,” Walker said.

“Every game is important now, as you want to go into the Finals on the right foot.”

Thursday’s Round 21 fixture at the Cairns Convention Centre tips off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.