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<strong>Round</strong> <strong>17</strong> vs brisbane bullets - 3 February 2018<br />
HERITAGE<br />
MONTH HITS<br />
MELBOURNE<br />
<strong>Game</strong> preview, team<br />
line ups and more!
Melbourne look to<br />
keep things rolling<br />
against Brisbane<br />
Having played just one home game in<br />
almost six weeks, Melbourne United<br />
are relishing the opportunity to get<br />
some practice in ahead of Satur<strong>day</strong><br />
night’s clash at Hisense Arena against<br />
the Brisbane Bullets.<br />
As practice time with the full squad was<br />
hard to come by over that stretch, Peter<br />
Hooley acknowledged how important this<br />
week was as the team looks to lock in a<br />
post-season berth.<br />
“It’s huge. I think Dean said after last game<br />
that we haven’t really had a full practice in a<br />
while – guys have had niggling injuries and<br />
there was a little sickness going around, but<br />
it’s good to be able to compete against each<br />
other and make sure that those juices keep<br />
flowing.” Hooley said on Tues<strong>day</strong>.<br />
“We had a good session to<strong>day</strong> and will have<br />
a couple more this week and we’ll be ready<br />
to go [against Brisbane].”<br />
The tough road stretch – which saw United<br />
win six of seven games – highlighted the<br />
depth within the squad. The likes of Hooley,<br />
Dave Barlow, Tohi Smith-Milner and Craig<br />
Moller have all stepped up when their<br />
names have been called.<br />
Coach Dean Vickerman talked about the<br />
key role that Smith-Milner has played over<br />
the last month as big men Majok Majok<br />
and Dave Andersen have been sidelined.<br />
“Majok’s a high-level rebounder in this league<br />
and Dave is so skilled as a big man, so you<br />
can’t replace that, but what we’ve seen Tohi<br />
do, I couldn’t be happier with how Tohi has<br />
come in and filled that role.” Vickerman said.<br />
“He’s been extremely comfortable and he<br />
kind of adds a little bit of both of those guys<br />
– he’s capable of shooting the three and he’s<br />
been in receiver spots just like Majok.”<br />
Vickerman also mentioned the importance<br />
of Barlow and Hooley.<br />
“Barlow has added just that little bit more<br />
penetration to his game… I thought his<br />
extra penetration and the shot he made<br />
through contact [against Sydney] was<br />
great the other night.” Vickerman said.<br />
“Pete [Hooley] just provides that energy.<br />
Sometimes he’s going to make a little wild<br />
decision but it’s something that you live<br />
with because he’s playing so hard and then<br />
he goes and gets a steal.”<br />
2 <strong>Game</strong> Day Program
“I love his physicality and just his<br />
determination to go and guard the best<br />
guard on the floor. If we can have that bench<br />
all making great contributions – it doesn’t<br />
have to be in scoring – it’s on the defensive<br />
end and the hustle that we expect that<br />
group to come with.”<br />
The task of guarding some of the great<br />
players that Brisbane have is a challenge<br />
that Hooley is looking forward to.<br />
“I think that’s kind of my role, to bring that<br />
energy on defence and I have taken that<br />
under my wing and pride myself on it now.”<br />
Hooley said.<br />
“You’ve got terrific guys that you’ve got<br />
to guard every week and [Travis] Trice is<br />
obviously one of them. He’s probably up<br />
there with Casper in the point guards, so<br />
you’ve got to make sure that whatever you<br />
can do against Casper in training, you do<br />
that even better on Satur<strong>day</strong>.”<br />
“They’ve just got terrific players and I think<br />
we’ve just got to go out there and hit them<br />
first and do what we can do best – get the<br />
rebounds and make sure we defend as a<br />
team and the rest should take care of itself.”<br />
Hooley’s influence on games has grown<br />
throughout the season, just as his<br />
confidence has. After a delayed start to the<br />
season because of injury, he has found his<br />
role and doing whatever the team needs.<br />
“I think it was a bit tough for me early.<br />
Obviously I was injured and I carried that<br />
injury for a few months, but I just tried to<br />
work my way back in and gain that trust<br />
from Dean to get on the court.” Hooley said.<br />
“It all starts with my defence and the rest<br />
just flows – it’s good to be out there and I’m<br />
playing confidently.”<br />
With Melbourne rocking their heritage<br />
2008 Melbourne Tigers jerseys against the<br />
Bullets, Dave Barlow – who was a member<br />
of that 2008 Championship-winning team –<br />
had a touch of déjà vu during Sun<strong>day</strong>’s win<br />
in Sydney.<br />
“It was cool to play against Sydney, they<br />
were wearing their heritage uniform and I<br />
played in that uniform too.” Barlow said. “I<br />
didn’t think about it at all during the game,<br />
but then after that game it was like a 10-12<br />
point game and that was the margin in<br />
<strong>Game</strong> Five in Sydney in 08.”<br />
“It was like we’re going to win, but we can’t<br />
really let our guard down just yet and then<br />
we won and I was like ‘damn, this kind of<br />
feels like it did in ’08 when we were wearing<br />
that uniform’ – obviously a lot less was on<br />
the line this time.”<br />
“For the most part you don’t really notice it,<br />
but red is a big difference from our standard<br />
dark blue.”<br />
There would be no better way to pay<br />
homage to the 2008 Melbourne Tigers<br />
team than to grab a home win in front<br />
of a packed-out Hisense Arena. A win on<br />
Satur<strong>day</strong> night will mean more than usual –<br />
not just because of the retro uniform, but<br />
because a win will most certainly book<br />
Melbourne’s ticket to the postseason.<br />
Make sure you’re there to cheer on<br />
your team.<br />
3 <strong>Game</strong> Day Program
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MELBOURNE UNITED<br />
HEAD COACH<br />
Dean Vickerman<br />
ASSISTANT COACHES<br />
Mike Kelly and Simon Mitchell<br />
#<br />
0<br />
CARRICK FELIX<br />
#<br />
3<br />
JOSH BOONE<br />
#<br />
7<br />
PETER HOOLEY<br />
#<br />
8<br />
KYLE ADNAM<br />
Height: 198cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: <strong>17</strong> Aug 90<br />
Height: 208cm<br />
Position: Centre<br />
DOB: 21 Nov 84<br />
Height: 193cm<br />
Position: Guard<br />
DOB: 5 Feb 92<br />
Height: 185cm<br />
Position: Guard<br />
DOB: 18 Nov 93<br />
#<br />
9<br />
CRAIG MOLLER<br />
#<br />
13<br />
DAVE ANDERSEN<br />
#<br />
20<br />
DAVID BARLOW<br />
#<br />
21<br />
CASPER WARE<br />
Height: 202cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: 22 Aug 94<br />
Height: 211cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: 23 Jun 80<br />
Height: 205cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: 22 Oct 83<br />
Height: <strong>17</strong>8cm<br />
Position: Guard<br />
DOB: <strong>17</strong> Jan 90<br />
#<br />
22<br />
MAJOK MAJOK<br />
Height: 206cm<br />
Position: Centre<br />
DOB: 10 Dec 92<br />
#<br />
42<br />
TAI WESLEY<br />
Height: 201cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: 13 May 86<br />
#<br />
43<br />
CHRIS GOULDING<br />
Height: 192cm<br />
Position: Guard<br />
DOB: 24 Oct 88<br />
7 <strong>Game</strong> Day Program
BRISBANE BULLETS<br />
HEAD COACH<br />
Andrej Lemanis<br />
#<br />
0<br />
TRAVIS TRICE<br />
#<br />
1<br />
ADAM GIBSON<br />
#<br />
2<br />
PERRIN BUFORD<br />
#<br />
3<br />
MITCHELL YOUNG<br />
Height: 186cm<br />
Position: Guard<br />
DOB: 22 Jan 93<br />
Height: 188cm<br />
Position: Guard<br />
DOB: 30 Oct 86<br />
Height: 198cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: 25 Jan 94<br />
Height: 206cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: 6 Aug 90<br />
#<br />
4<br />
MATT KENYON<br />
#<br />
5<br />
STEPHEN HOLT<br />
#<br />
9<br />
SHAUN BRUCE<br />
#<br />
13<br />
TOM JERVIS<br />
Height: 196cm<br />
Position: Guard<br />
DOB: 8 Feb 98<br />
Height: 193cm<br />
Position: Guard<br />
DOB: 6 Dec 91<br />
Height: 192cm<br />
Position: Guard<br />
DOB: 13 Jan 91<br />
Height: 211cm<br />
Position: Centre<br />
DOB: 4 Feb 87<br />
#<br />
14<br />
DANIEL KICKERT<br />
Height: 208cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: 29 May 83<br />
#<br />
<strong>17</strong><br />
ANTHONY PETRIE<br />
Height: 203cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: 9 May 83<br />
#<br />
25<br />
REUBEN TE RANGI<br />
Height: 195cm<br />
Position: Forward<br />
DOB: 14 Oct 94<br />
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Melbourne focussed<br />
on gaining finals<br />
advantage<br />
Having essentially clinched a spot<br />
in this year’s NBL Finals, Melbourne<br />
United coach Dean Vickerman says<br />
his side will now focus on securing<br />
home-court advantage throughout<br />
the post-season.<br />
Melbourne’s primary challenger for top spot<br />
is likely to be the Adelaide 36ers, who had<br />
won seven games in a row prior to their loss<br />
in Brisbane on Satur<strong>day</strong> night. United have<br />
now moved one win ahead of Adelaide with<br />
a game in hand.<br />
Melbourne, who defeated both Cairns and<br />
Sydney in <strong>Round</strong> 16, have now won ten of<br />
their past eleven games and sit atop the NBL<br />
ladder with an impressive 16-7 record.<br />
With their offense humming along nicely<br />
and boasting the most efficient defence<br />
in the league – and with four of their<br />
remaining five games at home – United are<br />
keen to lock up top spot and claim the club’s<br />
second regular season title in three years.<br />
“I can’t ever remember a team missing out<br />
with 16 wins so we’re at a point where<br />
there’s a new focus about how we prepare<br />
for each game and we can start to talk about<br />
how we prepare for the finals,” head coach<br />
Dean Vickerman said.<br />
“It changes a little bit this year with the FIBA<br />
window at the end of the season, but we<br />
can sit down now and assess what we’ve<br />
got in front of us and the areas that we<br />
need to get better at.”<br />
“Hopefully gaining home-court advantage is<br />
something that we can achieve,” Vickerman<br />
added.<br />
“You look at the other teams around that<br />
right now and New Zealand and Perth are<br />
both heavy travels so if you’ve got an extra<br />
game at home it is a heavy advantage.”<br />
Melbourne were outstanding in both of their<br />
opening halves this past weekend; limiting<br />
Cairns to just 25 points in the first half on<br />
Wednes<strong>day</strong> and then keeping Sydney under<br />
20 in each of the first two quarters on<br />
Sun<strong>day</strong>.<br />
Throwing the first punch, so to speak,<br />
has become an important element of<br />
Melbourne’s success.<br />
“It’s something that we’ve been trying to do<br />
all year,” star centre Josh Boone explained.<br />
12 <strong>Game</strong> Day Program
“The games when we haven’t done that<br />
we’ve struggled. I think about that Perth<br />
game when they just came out and hit us in<br />
the mouth and also the game we recently<br />
had in New Zealand where they came out<br />
and set the tone early.<br />
“We’ve really made it a focal point to get off<br />
to a really good start. It’s not necessarily<br />
about scoring so much as it is being physical,<br />
getting good shots and playing aggressive<br />
on defence.”<br />
“And when you’re not practicing at that<br />
high intensity every <strong>day</strong> there are little<br />
things that start to wane a little bit and our<br />
rebounding was one of those things.”<br />
Melbourne will play a danger game against<br />
the Brisbane Bullets this week before<br />
embarking on a home-away double against<br />
New Zealand. They will then close out the<br />
season with <strong>Round</strong> 19 home games against<br />
Perth and Illawarra.<br />
Boone was a genuine difference-maker<br />
against the Kings, pairing beautifully with<br />
Casper Ware in high pick-and-rolls and<br />
finishing with 22 points and 13 rebounds –<br />
both game-highs.<br />
Vickerman called Boone’s rebounding effort<br />
a “statement,” after United had been badly<br />
out-worked on the boards against the<br />
Taipans.<br />
“With our travel schedule and things that<br />
have been happening we haven’t had a full<br />
practice at high intensity for a couple of<br />
weeks now,” Vickerman said.<br />
13 <strong>Game</strong> Day Program
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