Melbourne United could switch up their starting five for Sunday’s home-opener against New Zealand following their four-overtime win over Illawarra on Friday night.
Melbourne and the Hawks played out just the second four-overtime game in NBL history with Brisbane Bullets and Perth Wildcats first reaching that mark in 1994; this time Melbourne came away with a 123-122 win.
That win was invaluable but the energy expended, especially by the team’s leading players, could cost them when they face the Breakers at Melbourne Arena on Sunday so Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman could reduce first-half minutes for some players.
Impact: A rested Mitch McCarron was able to swing the match in overtime for Melbourne.Credit:AAP
“I still believe it will be different for different games and it might be different against New Zealand,” Vickerman said.
“We will see how everyone comes up from that game and we have to use our bench a little more than we did tonight and I think they are good enough to put in a great performance.
“If we can restrict those minutes a little bit, then have enough juice in the tank for the second half, that’s going to be pretty important.”
Regular NBL games run for 40 minutes so four five-minute overtime sessions were exhausting for both sides.
All five of Melbourne’s starting line-up played more than 40 minutes on Friday with star point guard Casper Ware clocking up 55 minutes on court.
Out of Melbourne’s bench, only Mitch McCarron played over 20 minutes and his re-introduction in the fourth overtime swung the match as he scored five points in that overtime while reserves Tohi Smith-Milner and Peter Hooley also made big plays defensively.
Import centre Josh Boone was a force for Melbourne with 24 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks while new import DJ Kennedy showed he can come up big under pressure with 21 points and nine rebounds.
Melbourne captain Chris Goulding was outstanding with 23 points including three threes in the second overtime and the only thing which capped his minutes was when he fouled out.
“I’m pretty pumped we were able to get fresh guys in and they were able to produce,” Goulding said.
“It’s not easy to sit on the bench for an extended period of time and come into the game and have a really good impact and a lot of the guys did.
“There is still some gelling, some relationship stuff between us that is only going to get better overtime but to grind out a quadruple overtime game in our first game is pretty impressive and to do it on the road makes it an even bigger one.
Pumped: United captain Chris Goulding is rapt with the win on the road. Credit:AAP
“We know how big road wins are in this league, to get one first up is nice but we have to go home and solidify.”
The Breakers lost their first home game on Thursday night falling to the Brisbane Bullets 86-73 so they will be primed to take down Melbourne, who will raise their championship banner before the game.
To make it back to the finals, Melbourne will have to win a good share of their road games, especially as they have several of those contests leading into home games.
“We have seven games this year where we are on the road then we go and play at home,” Vickerman said after the Hawks game.
“Winning a double like this is something we have to get good at. It’s not even home and away right now as we are travelling to road games then travelling to home games.
“So we have to get good at building our own energy and I thought that through patches of the game our bench was outstanding.”
Melbourne United host New Zealand Breakers at Melbourne Arena on Sunday at 2.50pm.
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