Lual-Acuil Jr reveals why Melbourne lost

Melbourne star Jo Lual-Acuil Jr has blamed a “lack of clarity” on offence for the side’s overtime loss to Perth, after the Wildcats outscored United 13-6 in the extra period to emerge with a 102-95 victory.

Lual-Acuil Jr was forced to log heavy minutes for United in the defeat, following an early injury to fellow center Ariel Hukporti in the first minute of the game. While Hukporti did return to the court to play 10 minutes for the game, fellow forward Luke Travers suffered a nasty looking concussion in the same incident.

United’s injury woes were further compounded when import Ian Clark went down with a hamstring injury later in the game.

“I feel like we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit when we got to overtime,” Lual-Acuil Jr said post-game.

“Just no clarity and no rhythm and flow into our offence.

“It felt like we were winging it a little bit and when the game is that close and it’s overtime, we need to bog down and figure out two or three things that are working for us, get the ball moving and get good shots.

“I feel like we had a couple of good shots, but over the five-minute stretch it was a lack of clarity and stagnant offence.

“It's part of the season, you’re never going to go through undefeated. We’ll learn what we need to learn from the film and we’ll take it and move onto the next game. We can’t dwell on it.”

Those injuries to Clark, Travers and Hukporti forced United to look to their depth, in order to cover the loss of three crucial cogs.

Versatile big Kyle Bowen played 32 minutes on the night and registered a game-high 16 rebounds as he battled down low with Keanu Pinder and Alex Sarr, while Tanner Krebs was forced into less natural power forward position he sometimes played in while at Brisbane last year.

Flynn Cameron also logged 16 minutes, while Matthew Dellavedova was one of Melbourne’s top performers in his first game back from concussion.

Head coach Dean Vickerman praised his team’s ability to stand up amid the injury crisis.

“I was concerned about guys that logged massive minutes tonight, if they were ready for those kind of minutes,” Vickerman said.

“You lose three pieces in a game we finally got our full team together and we just didn’t get to play enough together.

“Jo showed he was ready for those minutes, Delly – that’s a huge one after coming off what he came off with a concussion – I was concerned for some of those guys, but I know Tanner Krebs can play a bit of the four and the three so we used him a bit there, I thought Kyle Bowen was excellent in his coverages and the way he showed and recovered and did a lot of great things.

“Flynn Cameron stepping up in the guard area and giving us quality minutes in that spot as well. We still had good coverage.

“He’s taken some hits, LT, this year, but that’s not one he gets back up from. He’s had great toughness but it was a big loss to start the game.

“To lose IC [Clar] after I thought he was playing great basketball, it was a bit of a re-injury to his hamstring there.

“Ariel takes his knock, we’ll see how that comes up as well. He was able to continue a little bit to play but we’ll see what happens from that.”

Melbourne has almost a full week to assess their medical room ahead of Sunday’s Throwdown clash with South East Melbourne.