Effort based win just the tonic for United

They might not have got going offensively but Melbourne United did a lot of other things coach Dean Vickerman was hoping to see to ensure they started their road stretch with a Boxing Day win, 76-66, over the Cairns Taipans.

Entering the clash in unfamiliar territory on a four-game losing streak, United rediscovered their defensive identity and swarmed the glass to improve their record to 13-8. 

Vickerman never questioned the heart or commitment of his players, but did admit it was a weight off the shoulders to snap the losing slide. 

“There’s always a bit of relief when you get over the hump,” Vickerman said.

“It’s never pretty and it’s always an effort based win to get there. So to do it defensively and continue to find a way when we weren’t shooting it that well is really pleasing.

“You want rewards for your players when they’re committed and this is a really good group of guys who through that four-game losing patch we never pointed fingers.

“We had honest conversations about the things we needed to do and there’s still a lot of growth within this team.”

Having two dominant rebounding games this week is something Vickerman sees as a good sign that United isn’t too far away from getting back to the form they were in prior to that recent four-game losing streak.

While there are still things he wants to see improve, most notably their offensive execution and taking better care of the ball, out-rebounding the JackJumpers and Taipans 109 to 65, with 39 offensively to 12, is a sign that Vickerman’s players have their hearts in the right place.

“I can’t question our intensity the last few games and it’s pleasing to get a result like that on the boards because we’ve worked really hard on it,” he said.

“Early in the season we were one of the best defensive rebounding percentage teams and that took a little dive, so for us to get back and be elite these last couple of games is pleasing.

“The work ons for us is that we turned it over a little bit too much these last two games and we need to better value the basketball.

“There are things that are really in our control to go ahead and tidy up, and if we keep getting quality shots the confidence for us will end up with us making a lot more than we miss.”

Having played seven games in the first 26 days of December, Melbourne will make the most of the chance to freshen between now and what will be a hotly anticipated rematch with the 36ers in Adelaide next Saturday night, which is also the first Summer Shootout game.

“We’ll get a couple of days for people just to have a little bit of a Christmas break before we get ready to go to Adelaide to play,” Vickerman said.

“Obviously last time we played them there were a lot of things that happened and I’m sure everybody will be up for that game.

“We know how dangerous they are but it is a chance for us to rest up some niggles after some guys have put in a lot of extra minutes with different people being out.

“To get everybody healthy is going to be a really good time for us to go in and hit this next road game because we know we’ve got seven in-a-row.”