R20 Preview: Melbourne United vs Brisbane Bullets

Saturday, April 16, 2022

Chris Goulding and Melbourne are looking to keep their noses in front of Sydney, and the face a Brisbane team feeling good after last week's win in Adelaide.

When: 5.30pm (AEDT), Saturday 16 April, 2022

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Sky Sports NZ

Who won the last time?
Melbourne 95 (Lual-Acuil 20, Agada 15, Ili 13, White 13) d Brisbane 83 (Franks 20, Cadee 17, Digbeu 11) – Round 14, John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Brisbane locked down the United offence in the opening half and led by three early in the third, but Caleb Agada and Jo Lual-Acuil went to work, combining for 17 points in a 30-16 run bridging three-quarter-time as Melbourne took control with a 59-46 second half.

What happened last start?

The story was similar in Cairns last round, but the United defence came to the party too, locking down the Taipans to 25 second-half points while racking up 49 themselves, with the hot hands of Chris Goulding and Lual-Acuil combining for 43 points at 61 per cent.

Brisbane reached double-figure wins thanks to a decisive 25-15 third quarter in Adelaide. It was the Bullets’ bench who again got the job done, outscoring the starters 47-46 with Robert Franks sidelined. Over the past four games their reserves have averaged 39.5ppg.

Who’s in form?

Chris Goulding – Watch out NBL! Goulding past four games have delivered 18.5ppg on 4.5 triples at 45 per cent. When CG is on from the land of three, Melbourne usually taste victory, going 13-2 when their skipper makes three or more threes and 5-5 when he doesn’t.

Jason Cadee – A hot Cadee is usually the key to a successful Bullets scoring spree, averaging 18.5ppg, 7.5 dimes and 4.0 triples at 48 per cent in their past four wins, with Brisbane passing 90 points on each occasion. He had 17 points at 70 per cent last time against United.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ice man ?<a href="https://twitter.com/JasonCadee5?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jasoncadee5</a> hits the dagger for <a href="https://twitter.com/rorkprojects?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rorkprojects</a> Play of the Game ?‍? <a href="https://t.co/P9FMt4dV7m">pic.twitter.com/P9FMt4dV7m</a></p>— Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1513801820548005893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who needs to be?

Matthew Dellavedova – Speaking of long-range barometers, Delly has made 34 triples in Melbourne’s 18 wins at a sizzling 45 per cent, compared to seven trifectas in seven losses at just 19 per cent. In United’s past five wins he’s connected at 52 per cent from distance.

Lamar Patterson – Has Lamar got a big one left in him? His past four games have produced only 10.5ppg at 35 per cent, 4.3rpg, 2.5apg and 3.0 turnovers per night. Patterson averages 5.0 assists in wins, and if Brisbane want to cause an upset they need their SF creating looks.

Who’s statting up?

- The Bullets are 5-6 from their past 11 games, scoring 94.4ppg in the five wins, compared to 78.8ppg in the half-dozen defeats

- In those wins, Brisbane have averaged 20.4 assists per game. Over the rest of the season they’ve averaged 16.2

- United are 5-3 since they last played Brisbane, conceding 95.0ppg in those losses, but just 78.0ppg in the five victories

- In their past three losses, to Perth and Illawarra, United have conceded 76.0ppg from ‘ones and twos’, compared to just 53.1ppg over the rest of the season

Who’s matching up?

Jack White v Robert Franks – The touch has deserted ‘Robo’ recently, hitting just 3/16 from outside in his past four games, after shooting 42 per cent across his opening 21. He’s grabbed 10.5 boards over his past six games though, setting up a monster battle with White.

While Melbourne are encouraging their power forward to fire from deep, given Jack is 2/10 from outside in his past six games but an excellent 67 per cent inside, he’s best attacking early and often against Franks, given Brisbane are 1-4 when he has four fouls or more.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Robert Franks x <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyDrmic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AnthonyDrmic</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/rorkprojects?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rorkprojects</a> Play of the Game<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BRISBANEBULLETS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BRISBANEBULLETS</a> <a href="https://t.co/capk46MHOQ">pic.twitter.com/capk46MHOQ</a></p>— Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1480413583015960582?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s talking the talk?

The road to the playoffs can be different for various teams.

For Sydney and Illawarra, they are clicking on all cylinders, fine-tuning for a title run. For Perth the road is bumpy, desperately trying to find line-ups that work after an injury-interrupted year.

Tasmania is sneaking up the inside lane, lurking in the blind spot in case an overtaking opportunity opens up, while South East Melbourne have hit a number of potholes, desperate to rediscover their previous form and make one last charge at it.

In terms of Melbourne, it’s been harder to get a read. They are on a three-game winning streak, but have lost three of their past eight, all to fellow contenders.

“In the last few weeks, we've performed at a level that I guess is acceptable but I still think we have room to grow,” veteran Dave Barlow said.

“The mood is one of excitement and eagerness to grasp the opportunity that we have in front of us.”

In players like Barlow, Chris Goulding, Brad Newley, Shea Ili and Matthew Dellavedova, United have veterans who have been there and done that many times before, so they know the landscape that lies ahead.

“The impending finals is somewhat in the back of our minds, but there are always goals and challenges prior to that,” Barlow said after defeating the Taipans in the Far North.

“We clinched a playoff spot with that win today so you tick that box, then can you achieve home-court advantage in the playoffs and can you achieve first place?

“These are the most important things before we get to that point, so that’s where the focus is.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="fr" dir="ltr">JLA is unstoppable!! ?<a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/4k6ZzFe7oO">pic.twitter.com/4k6ZzFe7oO</a></p>— Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1513033279997628418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Coach Dean Vickerman was candid in admitting they will approach their final three games against Brisbane, Cairns and Tasmania with multiple goals in mind.

“The goal every year is to try and get home-court advantage, but we also want to do that and make sure there’s Xs and Os and minutes (spread), we want to make sure everybody is prepared for the finals as well,” he said.

“Hopefully we’re good enough in some of these games that we can continue to rotate and everybody walks into the finals feeling really good about their own abilities and their role on the team …

“We want to go in and win every one of those games, and percentage is a win right now. If we win all games Sydney’s the only team that can get to 21, and right now our percentage is pretty solid.”

The reason Vickerman can think that way is the trust he has in his bench, with Newley, Ili, Yudai Baba, Mason Peatling and Ariel Hukporti all performing at a high level, while Dion Prewster has also shown he can contribute.

Against Cairns, 11 United players were on court for eight minutes or more – with 10 tasting more than 14 minutes of action – as they ran their hosts into the ground.

“We've built this team on depth and we thought that over time, somewhere in the second half, we might be able to create a run that was going to be too much for them,” Vickerman said.

“It came fairly early in the third quarter and I thought our activity on defence was fantastic and we found a couple of plays that were really effective for us and we kept going back to it.”

Melbourne’s mini-slump coincided with the change to tighter officiating, having to make a significant adjustment from the physical hands-on approach that was so successful earlier in NBL22.

In Cairns, they upped the physicality again, testing the water, and while the Snakes slithered to the line for 24 free throws, Vickerman’s men got the reward of open-court scores from 16 turnovers and 32 per cent defensive field-goal percentage.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Block by Big A ?<br>Bucket by Brad ?<a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/iPveXYWie1">pic.twitter.com/iPveXYWie1</a></p>— Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1513027491346403333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“It’s where we pride ourselves and sometimes we've stepped off our ball pressure a little bit in some games, being concerned about if people go by us, but I thought we had a good balance there in third quarter,” Vickerman said.

“We were really pressuring, our hand pressure created deflections and we weren’t getting blown by, we’re tough to guard if we can keep people out of the paint like that.”

No doubt they’ll take the same aggressive approach to Brisbane on Saturday, but Bullets coach James Duncan was pleased with the way his team handled the pressure late-game in Adelaide.

“These are good building blocks for us where teams are going to do that and we need find ways to still execute, not panic, screen, find the open man and we were able to do that and make plays down the end,” he said.

“It feels really good that there’s so many guys that stepped up and put their foot forward, or put their hand up to defend or rebound, and just make the right play.”

He’ll be hoping his bench sparkplugs Tom Digbeu, Tamuri Wigness and Taane Samuel all pass game-day fitness tests, as the possession game is king against United, and they’ll need all hands on deck to repeat that second-half toughness on the glass and on D.

“It's just being physical and making hits, it’s a choice and we made a choice to do that in the second half,” he said.

“It’s hard work and we've got to be prepared, we’re playing Melbourne on the road, who’s leading the comp, and we play Cairns in our last game who we haven't beaten all season so it's a huge challenge for us.

“In saying that, this game was a huge challenge for us considering what happened in the last game. We are capable of bouncing back, so we look forward to the challenge that’s going to come.”