Melbourne's mind over matter

Melbourne United have focused on themselves during their break between Round 20 and the Playoffs, and head coach Dean Vickerman has revealed the club employed the services of renowned mindfulness mentor Ben Crowe in an attempt to give his team an extra edge over the Illawarra Hawks.

Crowe most famously worked with former tennis player Ash Barty, during a run which saw her named both the Wimbledon and Australian Open women’s singles champion.

“We had a real big one on mindset. When you don’t even know who you’re playing the only thing you can focus on is yourself,” Vickerman told SEN.

“We had Ben Crowe come in who has done some great work with Ash Barty and the Richmond Football Club and some others to really talk about individual mindset, how we get the best out of the group and individuals, how do we deal with moving on – there’s going to be things happening in the game, you miss a shot, get a referee’s call – can you move on to the next play of the game?

“I think we really spent two weeks on getting into the detail of our hand pressure and our box outs and things that can win you an extra possession as well.”

The Hawks changed their starting lineup and rotations in their Play-In win over New Zealand. Former Melbourne guard William Hickey was injected into the starting lineup to provide a defensive cover for Parker Jackson-Cartwright, while sharpshooter Hyunjung Lee dropped to the bench.

It wasn’t the first time the Hawks have looked to blanket an opposition team’s most dangerous player this season. They did so successfully against the Perth Wildcats and Bryce Cotton during the regular season.

Vickerman says Justin Tatum’s utilisation of his full roster helps the Hawks keep their game pace high.

“We saw a change of lineup the other day, more defensive putting ‘Davo’ Hickey in the starting lineup and bringing Robinson off the bench who can provide a real spark, bringing Lee off the bench who can shoot the basketball,” Vickerman said.

“I think the way they’ve been using their depth now really keeps the pressure on that they want on both ends of the floor, because they’re trying to push that thing as fast as anyone in the league at the moment and have made a good target out of Froling as well.

“[We] really targeted to how we could push the pace a little bit more in this game [in the break], every deflection and every rebound, let’s try and play faster to simulate what we’re going to go against in the Finals.”

Game 1 of Melbourne’s Playoff series against Illawarra will tip off at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo, and 10 Play, on Thursday.