How to watch & talking points: Melbourne v Brisbane

Melbourne United (4th) v Brisbane Bullets (10th)
Wednesday, January 21, 5.30pm AEDT
Red Energy Arena (Bendigo)

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Talking points

Time to build
They don’t ask how you win, they just care if you won and that’s exactly what Melbourne United did at HoopsFest against Tasmania.

After dropping two games the previous round by one shot, they managed to hang on and beat the JackJumpers in a tough performance down the stretch.

While that win certainly takes a lot of pressure off a team that has struggled to find their early season form, the key now is that they continue to build and stack wins if they want a genuine chance at winning a title.

Bullets on the wrong side of history
The Brisbane Bullets are limping towards the end of the season and unfortunately their recent history against United isn’t great.

Of the last 17 matchups between these two teams, the Bullets have managed to win just one and that was back in Round 11 last season.

With some big outs due to injury, the rest of this season looks to be more of an audition for the group that’s available to play and that can sometimes show an increased fight and a surprising result.

What they're saying

United coach Dean Vickerman on building on Saturday's win:
“It's a step in the right direction … I think the commitment to improving the defensive end and getting back to letting that be what sparks everything for you.

“Our spacing was pretty good. We thought we still had a lot of wide-open shots that we think we're capable of making.

"But for the most part, we continue to stretch out six, seven, eight-point leads and how we can continue to manage game situations down the stretch is continual work on.”

Bullets forward Terry Taylor on what his team needs to improve on:
"That's the thing, we've been in a lot of games, we just come out flat in the third quarter for whatever reason with a lot of turnovers and empty offensive positions, and not communicating well enough.

"But if we can just clean up some stuff, we'll be fine, and we shouldn’t have no problem with coming out with a W against Melbourne United if we just take care of our end of the bargain.

"We always seem to be shooting ourselves in the foot at the moment, but for the most part I think if we can take better care of that we'll be fine and it's important to tell the guys to go out and have fun.

"You want everyone to keep shooting their shots, to keep doing the right things and communicating, and if we do that then this thing will play out how it's supposed to, but you have to emphasis having fun and playing hard.

"Then you'll let the chips fall where they fall if you do that."

Missing in action

Melbourne
Shea Ili - Hamstring - Round 19

Brisbane
Casey Prather - Knee - Season
Dakota Mathias - Shoulder - February
Javon Freeman-Liberty - Hamstring - Round 20
Lamar Patterson - Hamstring - Season
Sam McDaniel - Calf - Round 20
Tyrell Harrison - Concussion – TBC

>> View full injury list