R15 Preview: Melbourne United vs Adelaide 36ers

When: 5.30pm (AEDT), Saturday 24 April

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Broadcast: SBS Viceland; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
Melbourne 82 (McCarron 18, Hopson 14, Landale 12) d Adelaide 73 (Johnson 14, Crocker 13, Giddey 13), Round 7, John Cain Arena

This NBL Cup clash was almost over before it began as Melbourne unleashed a 31-8 opening term, Jock Landale and Jack White scoring as many points in the first minute as the 36ers did in the first 10. Adelaide gave up 5 offensive boards and 4 turnovers in the first stanza to sabotage their chances, but in what would be Isaac Humphries last full game for two months, they fought back bravely, a Josh Giddey and Tony Crocker-inspired 31-15 run across half-time reducing the deficit to single figures. That remarkably narrowed to four midway through the final term, but a Mitch McCarron three and Scotty Hopson dunk locked in the win for United.


The now

The time is now for the 36ers, Humphries and Crocker back in the line-up and riding into Melbourne having won three of their past four, including double-figure home wins over Illawarra and Perth, and an impressive road victory over the Phoenix where they led by 22 in the final term at John Cain Arena. A win over United would bring them within two games of the top four, and with two of their following three in Adelaide, now is the time to make hay.

Melbourne will have seen the recent trend of upsets all around the Hungry Jack’s NBL, including the Sixers win over the Cats, NZ prevailing in Perth and the decimated Taipans taming the Breakers. One common theme in those results has been fatigue, however, and United have played just three games in the past 20 days, all at home. With six of their next seven in Melbourne, few would bet against them adding to their eight-game winning streak.


The stats

 - The 36ers are 6-4 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre this season and 4-10 elsewhere

 - Adelaide average 4.9 blocks per game in wins compared to 2.5 in defeat, with Humphries swatting 3.7 per game in his six Ws

 - No team has scored 90 or more points against Melbourne in the past 35 days, with United allowing just 75.6ppg in eight games in that time

 - Melbourne have held the 36ers to 69ppg at 36 per cent in their two meetings, while forcing 14.5 turnovers to 14 assists. Against the rest of the NBL, Adelaide average 85.5 points at 46 per cent, with 18 dimes to 12.3 miscues


The key men

Josh Giddey – Adelaide last had a full roster in January, so with Humphries and Crocker back on board, playing alongside Brandon Paul, everything should come together, right? As if this 18-year-old point phenom hasn’t had enough to deal with, Giddey must get all these pieces to fit for the Sixers to make a playoff run. Given he has averaged 9.4 assists in his past nine games, and Humphries is by far his favourite passing target, would you bet against him? His battle against Mitch McCarron and Sam McDaniel will be pivotal in controlling the tempo.

Scotty Hopson – In losses, Melbourne have hoisted 30.2 three-point attempts and made just 30 per cent. In wins, those numbers are 26.2 at 38 per cent. In losses they are -26 on points in the paint, compared to +96 in wins. Funnily enough, when Hopson plays they are 14-1, compared to 4-4 when he doesn’t. Simply put, Hopson gets into the lane and creates quality shots at the rim and quality looks from the arc when the defence collapses. Do Paul and Crocker team up on their fellow import, or is this a job for Sunday Dech?



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Scotty Hopson with the athletic finish at the basket ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLCup</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/GSBr1Wuhep">pic.twitter.com/GSBr1Wuhep</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1364868179034443781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


The quotes

It wasn’t quite the start to the season Adelaide were hoping for, bullied of their home floor by 24 by a Melbourne United team that upped the ante after half-time.

“They were aggressive and physical and we knew that they would be, we have to dominate our space to catch the basketball, to screen, to get it through hands and share it,” coach Conner Henry said after that clash.

“We didn’t play catch enough with it, if we can do that we can get some easier shots, and if we can keep the defence moving and gain an advantage.”

Fast forward six weeks in Melbourne and it didn’t take half for Dean Vickerman’s men to get their pressure defence going, holding the Sixers to eight points in the opening term as they once again muscled them out of their offence.

“It was about making sure we were locked in defensively and into our scouts, and when you hold a team to eight points in a quarter, you are doing a lot of good things defensively,” Vickerman said.

In a season where the amount of physicality allowed has increased markedly over previous years, teams have had to adjust.

While it took an Adelaide team low on ball-handlers a long time to find the answer to physical pressure – and heed coach Henry’s call to play catch – last Saturday’s win over the Phoenix showed the lessons may have finally been learned.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">??????&#39; ?????? to cleanse the timeline. <a href="https://t.co/fEz5U6jiX7">pic.twitter.com/fEz5U6jiX7</a></p>&mdash; Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1383354188390797317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


With SE Melbourne closing a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit back to five on the back of four 36er turnovers, the visitors turned the tide thanks to a pair of Sunday Dech steals and some composed play under pressure.

“We had talked previously that we knew the pressure was going to come,” Henry said.

“My message was expect the pressure, but we want to play catch with each other, don’t run away from the ball, come and catch the ball, the basic fundamentals of the game, get yourself to a spot where whoever has got the ball can see you, you’re not hiding behind a defender.”

The next step was making the Phoenix pay without losing control of the tempo and opening the door for quick scores, and that will be important against Melbourne’s pressure too.

“We weren’t aggressive looking to score, we created the advantage off the pressure and then we became stagnant with it,” Henry added.

“The second time-out was let’s be aggressive, let’s break the press, let’s not look to sit back on our heels here, if we get a good opportunity let’s take it. If we can get on the rim, better, force them to foul us, get to the line.”

With Dech, Paul and Giddey in quality form, Humphries and Crocker back in the line-up and Daniel Johnson on fire heading into his 300^th game for the club, all appears ready for a run to the playoffs, but Henry’s not really interested in that just yet.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You can&#39;t stop that. <a href="https://t.co/XM1nnDTdHn">pic.twitter.com/XM1nnDTdHn</a></p>&mdash; Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1383341022067920899?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


“As cliché as it is, we can’t afford to look ahead, based on all the injuries that we've suffered, based on our record,” he said.

“We’re trying to play a level of unselfish basketball, and when we do that I like our chances against anybody.

“United’s coming up, they’re one of the two top teams, they're loaded, I think they're physically a little bit beat up but they're getting some guys back.

“They're a talented, deep, experienced team, Dean does a great job, they’ve got some veterans that have played at every level. We’re not taking anything for granted here.

“We’re going to go home and get healthy again this week, and rest up, and play loose, I told the guys let’s play loose, have fun, share the basketball, play for each other and we’ll show up against United next week.”

That hasn’t been lost on coach Vickerman, who is wary of a talented team that is starting to find it’s swagger.

“I think they're just playing really comfortably right now, they’ve got a couple of guys who have really stepped up, now they’ve got their import and Sunday’s playing like one of the better defenders in the league, they’ve got good perimeter threats, Josh is finding people, there wasn’t enough made of having Humphries and Crocker (being) out,” he said.

“They’re sitting at a point where they're challenging for a playoff spot and they’ve knocked off Perth, they’ve knocked off South East, they’ve knocked off good teams, so we come into that one knowing we’re playing a really good basketball team and we’re looking forward to it.”