GF Game 1 Preview: Perth Wildcats vs Melbourne United

When: 8.30pm (AEST), Friday 18 June

Where: RAC Arena, Perth

Broadcast: SBS Viceland; ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch


The last time
Melbourne 78 (Lual-Acuil 16, Landale 14, McCarron 11) d Perth 64 (Blanchfield 15, Magnay 10, Travers 10) - Round 21, RAC Arena, Perth

With top spot still up for grabs heading into Perth, Dean Vickerman’s men wasted no time doing so against the Norton and Cotton-less Cats. Luke Travers and Todd Blanchfield gave the home side a 5-0 lead, but Melbourne steadied and then their bench did some serious work.

Led by Scotty Hopson and Jo Lual-Acuil, United’s five reserves scored 23 straight points across quarter-time as the visitors raced to a game-winning 15-point advantage. While Blanchfield, Clint Steindl and Corey Shervill kept the Cats in the contest from long range, a Mitch McCarron inspired 14-5 run in the final term guided Melbourne home.


The now
Right now, Perth have to prove they can score more than 64 points against the United defence without their MVP. They were fortunate to face the NBL’s worst offensive team in Illawarra in the semi-finals, allowing them to courageously emerge from a grinding series where they averaged just 76.3ppg and shot 40 per cent. They were beaten in possession points by the Hawks, however, a repeat of which would be disastrous against Melbourne.

The semi finals showed when United create looks for Jock Landale he will finish the job, but the past three meetings with Perth suggest they can’t rely on that in the Grand Final, meaning Chris Goulding and McCarron must improve their 30 per cent semi-final shooting performance. Perhaps the biggest keys are ball security, keeping the Cats off the foul line, and slowing the entry into offence to limit how many screen exchanges Perth can execute every 24 seconds.


The stats

 - In two wins over Melbourne, the Wildcats were +41 in possession points – second chance points and points from turnovers – while in three United wins those stats were dead even

 - In two losses to Perth, United have averaged 17.5 turnovers and given up 24.5 points from turnovers. In their three wins those numbers shrink to 13 and 15.3

 - Perth rank first in the NBL in free-throw attempts, while United sit seventh. Not surprisingly, the Cats are +34 on free-throw attempts in this season series

 - In Melbourne’s past two games against the Wildcats they have nailed 26/62 from long range (42 per cent) in a pair of wins. Their bench has hit 11/19 from deep


The key men

Todd Blanchfield – Life PC (post Cotton) has mostly been good for TB. The westerners are 4-3 without the MVP, and in those four Ws Blanchfield has averaged 18ppg on 7.7 free-throw attempts. In the past four games he’s averaged 3.8 triples at 41 per cent, so expect United to run him off the three-point line. The question is can Sam McDaniel and Co consistently force Vinnie into tough drives and floaters without putting him to the charity stripe?

Jock Landale – The former Euroleague star was a big offensive factor in his first two outings against Perth, averaging 18 points at 61 per cent and 3.5 assists, but in three games since the Cats have curtailed his influence to a modest 14.7ppg at 47 per cent, and 1.7 dimes. With two of the NBL’s best ball-screen defences on show, and strong interior defenders in Landale, Lual-Acuil, Will Magnay and John Mooney, this battle of the bigs shapes as a classic.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">27 PTS | 8/10 2P | 3/3 3P | 8 REB | 3 AST | 2 BLK<a href="https://twitter.com/JockLandale?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JockLandale</a> gave &#39;em a show. <br><br>??? <a href="https://t.co/ZQZa4igB8e">pic.twitter.com/ZQZa4igB8e</a></p>&mdash; Melbourne United (@MelbUnitedHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnitedHQ/status/1404966956902469640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The quotes

This is how the Red Army would love Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman to begin his post-game press conference on Friday night.

“We were really sloppy with the basketball, our decision making just gifted them a lot of points, and they capitalise on their offensive rebounding as well,” he said.

“That second quarter we put them on the foul line quickly, a lot of early fouls, and that allowed them to disrupt up the floor.

“The 60 shots we have, that’s about 15 down on what we’re trying to achieve. I'm sure 40 of those possessions we don’t even start in the right spots tonight, we just got disrupted from the start, credit Perth, they did a really good job with it.

“The biggest thing to the game was we found absolutely no rhythm to our offence and we couldn’t get started, and it turned into a lot of trying to play one-on-one because we were broken down too quickly.

“There was an IQ factor to that tonight, to say this is what they're taking away, this is how we counter it, and we just weren’t good enough in basketball reads tonight.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">[2/2] <a href="https://t.co/j5tPUb8U8Z">pic.twitter.com/j5tPUb8U8Z</a></p>&mdash; Melbourne United (@MelbUnitedHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnitedHQ/status/1404742559423864833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Of course, that was Deano speaking after Melbourne’s 82-69 drubbing at John Cain Arena in Round 16, when the Wildcats signalled loud and clear the NBL21 title was a two-horse race.

United coughed up the ball 18 times that night, and were whooped 16-8 on the offensive glass.

Now this is what Melbourne fans want their coach saying after the NBL Grand Final opener in The Jungle.

“Some keys for this one were taking care of the basketball,” he said.

“We still had eight turnovers at the half but having four turnovers in the second half, doing a solid job on the boards and then having foul discipline and I think the second quarter was the only one – they shot 10 free throws in that second quarter – but other than that I thought we were pretty foul disciplined.

“We didn’t overreact to situations as well and kept our heads which was really good.”

That was after they took the Wildcats down 99-91 in a brilliant game of Round 18 basketball, ignoring the urgings of the 10,000-strong Red Army to hold off every surge.

That night, all 10 United rotation players were on court between 12-29 minutes, a strategy much-criticised from the peanut gallery but which proved mightily effective in the semi-finals as the overran a dog-tired Phoenix outfit.

“That’s the way we've played all year, we've continued to trust the group. It wasn’t a game that I wanted to tighten rotations, I wanted to make sure people were playing the minutes they’ve been playing all year and trusting a lot of people,” Vickerman said post-game in Perth.

“I think the energy we were able to generate and the trust in a lot of people making shots becomes pretty hard to defend.”

They become pretty hard to score against too. Keifer Sykes tormented Melbourne for six quarters as he dissected their ball-screen defence, but eventually the physicality of McDaniel, Shea Ili and Yudai Baba wore him down, forcing him into ill-advised shots.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Access: Denied! <a href="https://t.co/8ZLNilv4DV">pic.twitter.com/8ZLNilv4DV</a></p>&mdash; Melbourne United (@MelbUnitedHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnitedHQ/status/1404751615039475712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While Cotton usually gets that sort of VIP treatment from United, expect the hounds to now turn on Mitch Norton, who was absent from the only meeting between these teams since Cotton’s operation.

Norton was remarkable in Game 3 against Illawarra, overcoming a hip injury and the oppressive defence of Justin Simon to score 15 points, including 10 on 3/4 shooting in the final term to clip the Hawks’ wings.

“We've talked the last couple of years about his leadership role, and probably the last two years just learning what’s in front with some vets out there. Now it’s his turn,” coach Trevor Gleeson said.

“When the pressure is on he took the responsibility himself … that’s what leadership is all about, when the game’s on the line taking a step forward and Mitch did that on a number of occasions.

“He’s playing with a lot of discomfort and a lot of players wouldn’t be able to suit up. He’s a tough little character, well he’s not little, he’s strong, they build them strong up in North Queensland.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Big. Mitch. Moment. ? <br><br>Norto finished Game Three with 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists &amp; 2 steals. <a href="https://t.co/veL53bM2yU">pic.twitter.com/veL53bM2yU</a></p>&mdash; Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1404650017932013569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Croc connection is strong in Perth, with Gleeson having mentored Norton and Blanchfield as youngsters in green, and now the pair is on the verge of delivering a fairytale title.

“(Blanchfield) has been our real step up since Bryce has been out. When he gets going and is confident, as soon as the ball leaves his hand it looks like it’s going in,” Gleeson said.

“He’s been good for us for the last month since Bryce has been out, he’s been great all year, it's an added responsibility to be a focal point offensively and deliver under pressure, I'm proud of Toddy too.”

They will need plenty of help against the league’s best team, and several match-ups will be crucial.

Which of Landale and Mooney can best exploit the pick-and-pop? Will Hopson and Lual-Acuil make a bigger bench splash than Clint Steindl and Jesse Wagstaff? Will Baba spend extended time defending Blanchfield?

Can Kevin White repeat his zero turnover performance from Round 21 against Melbourne’s pressure? Can Norton limit Chris Goulding’s looks? And can anyone stop Luke Travers’ meteoric rise as a do-it-all DP?

Travers ball-handling and length allows Perth to deploy a line-up with every player 200cm and taller, giving them huge advantages being able to switch defensively, crash the glass and then dazzle in the open floor.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Luke Travers knows what the Red Army wants to see! ?? <a href="https://t.co/VjfimjypBv">pic.twitter.com/VjfimjypBv</a></p>&mdash; Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1404442470641901569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In return, expect United to go hard at Travers’ handles to force him off the ball and increase the workload on Norton.

While Jack White’s absence is significant for Melbourne, has the NBL ever seen a more impactful offensive player come playoff time than Cotton? The answer is probably no, and as such the ledger tips in United’s favour.

However, opening the series with back-to-back games in front of the Red Army opens the door for Perth, and coach Gleeson is keen to barge through.

“It’s a great thing we don’t have to travel, to play three games in five days with travel is always an issue,” he said.

“To get the first two at home, we can rest some bodies up, get Mitch some rest and lock into it later in the week. Hopefully we can get this place rocking on the weekend and get a couple of wins.”