Melbourne United captain Chris Goulding could miss his side’s trip to Cairns as he continues to recover from a knee injury.
Goulding avoided a serious injury when he hurt his knee against Perth on Saturday but he sat out Monday’s 99-93 win over the Illawarra Hawks after he was unable to prove his fitness on game day.
Chris Goulding was injured against Perth.Credit:AAP
Star import Casper Ware stepped up in Goulding’s absence, scoring a game-high 26 points in the win.
While his main problem is the bruising on his knee, Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said he could miss the trip to Cairns.
That would set the stage for him to return for Melbourne’s highly-anticipated showdown with Andrew Bogut and the Sydney Kings at Melbourne Arena on Melbourne Cup Eve.
“Medical advice kind of suggested it may be another game or so,” Vickerman said after the game on Monday.
“But they also said he responded quickly over the last day or two and if he continues that progress he is a chance.”
Melbourne import Josh Boone played through an ongoing ankle problem on Monday but he played off the bench as Vickerman sent Alex Pledger out in the starting five.
Pledger pulled in 12 rebounds while Boone came up big in the last term with two tip-ins that helped stop a late fightback from the Hawks. Melbourne dominated the rebound count 42-29.
“We’ve got two games this weekend, going up to Cairns and coming back for Sydney so Pledger may start one or may start two – practice form will be a part of it as well and history will be a part of it,” Vickerman said.
“We will look at the match-ups and practice form but I like that we are going into different games with different starting line-ups and people are accepting that and different roles coming off the bench as well.”
Melbourne have made strides in reducing their turnovers and regaining control of the rebounding contest but in their past two games they have had over 25 fouls and had multiple players foul out.
Vickerman said he liked the aggressive nature of his side’s defence but they would have to look at how they defend in the low post after picking up several fouls in that area.
“In the first three games we were at a lower level of fouls than last year but in the last two games we have had about 27 fouls both games and I think our sweet spot is around 20-21 fouls,” Vickerman said.
“There is four or five we can make improvements on so I’m not so concerned about it. I want that defensive intensity right now.
“We have stayed pretty vanilla in staying with our man-to-man and locking in on our rules and as the season rolls on we will continue to add something more aggressive and something less aggressive.
“We have wanted to lock into our defensive rules and we have been doing a pretty good job.”
Melbourne United play the Taipans in Cairns on Saturday night then host Sydney Kings in a Melbourne Cup Eve game at Melbourne Arena on Monday at 7.50pm.
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