No room for error: United face do-or-die Finals reality

Heading into the NBL26 Finals, Melbourne United face the prospect of win or be eliminated.

That is a far cry from the situation Dean Vickerman’s side faced the past two seasons, after finishing in the top two on the ladder in both NBL24 and NBL25.

Team captain Chris Goulding says his side appreciates their situation and is confident they will come into the Finals with a more urgent mindset.

“The reality is we're in elimination games from the jump,” Goulding said at the NBL26 Finals Launch.

“Oftentimes throughout the last couple of years, it's taken for us to get down a little bit or for the chips to turn, to really get those competitive juices going and put it all on the line.

“It's not the way I'd like it to be, but I'm hopeful that the desperation that's needed and the reality of it could be our last game is going to be a real positive for us and the personnel that we have.

“I feel confident about where we are, as, for quite some time now, we've been preaching desperation and attention to detail and how important every possession and game is. We get to live that now.

“[Honestly] I’ve never really been a big fan of the Play-In tournament. I like the top four, but turns out this year I love the Play-In tournament.”

Echoing his skipper’s thoughts regarding the club’s mindset is Vickerman, who is hopeful his team come out of this FIBA Break better than they did in November.

Melbourne was sitting at 13-2 before the previous FIBA Break, before going on to lose four straight and eight of their next 10 games.

“The FIBA Break wasn't great for us last time, so we want to make sure that there's a different mentality coming out of this one,” Vickerman said.

“It’s kind of good to know who you're playing, and [whereas, when] you're sitting in the to the next game after, that if we're good enough to win, is Perth or South East Melbourne.

“I haven't really thought about using that as a motivating factor right now, but as Chris said, you look at those Finals series' for the last couple of years, and when we had our backs against the wall, it brought out the best in us

“This is a really fun group to coach. At different times, our confidence level hasn't been perfect, but we're really building in that area right now, and I know they just want to keep playing basketball together for as long as possible.

Thursday’s Play-In Qualifier between Melbourne and Tasmania tips off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.