NBL Cup Preview: Melbourne United v Brisbane Bullets

When: 2.00pm (AEDT), Sunday 7 March

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

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

The last time

Melbourne 109 (Goulding 27, Landale 20, Hopson 16) d Brisbane 96 (Sobey 27, Law 20, Krebs 11, Hodgson 11) – February 5, Nissan Arena, Brisbane

This was a tremendously high-quality and entertaining affair in Brisbane back in Round 4. While the final margin of 13 points looks comfortable, it was anything but that for Melbourne and it took four three-pointers in the fourth quarter from captain Chris Goulding for them to pull away for the win and overcome the 27 points from Nathan Sobey who received good support from Vic Law, Tanner Krebs, Matt Hodgson and Orlando Johnson. But with Goulding's 27 points and good support from Jock Landale and Scotty Hopson, United came away with the road win and remained undefeated to start the #NBL21 season.

The now

Melbourne and Brisbane both won impressively on Friday night to enter Sunday's clash at the NBL Cup less than 48 hours later with some good momentum with the result to potentially have a big say in who ends up winning the tournament within a season.

Melbourne has now responded impressively to their lone loss of the season to start the NBL Cup against the Perth Wildcats to now be on a four-game winning streak and that's while continuing to be well short of full strength.

United have regained point guard Shea Ili but then lost exciting rookie forward Jack White, and now just as Chris Goulding is right to return for Sunday's clash with the Bullets, they have lost import guard Scotty Hopson for likely several weeks with an adductor injury. But no matter what personnel are available, Melbourne just continues to win games of basketball and that was again the case on Friday night with a hard fought 87-84 win against the New Zealand Breakers.

That has Melbourne out on top of the NBL season standings with a 10-1 record while the are only percentage off top spot in the NBL Cup with a 4-1 record and 23.5 points to their credit from the 35 that have been available for them.

Brisbane is now warming into the season nicely as well with the Bullets having won three of their last four games, and they bounced back well from a loss to the New Zealand Breakers by handing the Perth Wildcats their first defeat at the NBL Cup on Friday night.

So much of it is on the back of energy and efficiency that MVP fancy Nathan Sobey is playing with right now and it can't be ignored that his form has skyrocketed since the Boomers squad for the Tokyo Olympics was announced without him part of it. 

However, the Bullets are anything but a one man show and when they play well it coincides with Vic Law firing while the return to form and fitness of Matt Hodgson has been a big factor. Orlando Johnson is now beginning to settle into a role and Jason Cadee provides good leadership running the team. 

Brisbane might just hold a 6-6 record on the season overall but they are playing better than that suggests and the Bullets are 3-2 at the NBL Cup so far and if they can win on Sunday against Melbourne, they remain a genuine shot at some prizemoney next week.

The stats

- Melbourne United might have won the NBL championship in 2018, reached a Grand Final in 2019 and then went within a game of beating the Sydney Kings in the semi finals in 2020, but the Brisbane Bullets have won five of the last seven games between the two teams.

- Melbourne has held its opponents to just 79.5 points over the past four matches and they've won each of them but Brisbane has put up an average of 99.8 points over their last four. Something will have to break when they meet on Sunday.

- Nathan Sobey and Vic Law are key for the Bullets. In the three games Sobey has gone over 30 points this season they have won. Similarly when Law has scored more than 20 points, Brisbane has won all five of those encounters.

- Shea Ili is the only player in the league currently averaging the sought after 50/40/90 shooting percentages. The United point guard is delivering 54.8 per cent from the field, 50.0 per cent from three-point range and 100 per cent from the foul line.

The key men

Chris Goulding – You don't want to expect too much too soon when someone has missed the last six games through injury and he isn’t as young as he once was, but the United captain started the season in brilliant form and he'll be called upon to help them get over the Bullets. With Scotty Hopson and Jack White sidelined, he is a much-needed inclusion too and having shot Melbourne to victory last time against Brisbane with 27 points and seven triples while averaging 16.8 points to open the new season, the 322-game veteran will be required to provide that shooting spark but also some poise and leadership out on the floor come Sunday afternoon.

Matt Hodgson – It's obvious the importance to Brisbane's fortunes of Nathan Sobey and Vic Law while Orlando Johnson standing up could be their X-factor. But when Matt Hodgson is on the floor, they look a significantly better team at both ends of the floor. He is a genuine offensive threat the way he is playing in the block right now and he's also a good offensive rebounder. Defensively he can be a real difference-maker too with his ability to influence, change and block shots, and to be a strong defensive rebounder. Now he is also foul prone which can make it hard for him to stay on the court as long as the Bullets would like. His role is extra important on Sunday because he will be needed up against Jock Landale and if he's sitting on the bench too often, the Bullets might find it tough to come out victorious.

The quotes

United coach Dean Vickerman isn't hiding the fact that they are hoping to win the NBL Cup and they've put themselves in a position where that's possible.

"We've done a better job as a coaching staff in managing the last couple of minutes of the quarter with fouls and just the information that's available to us, and the constant transfer of information to the team about what we need," Vickerman said.

"We had a timeout in the quarter that we lost to try and get a three-point shot against New Zealand, and Barlow got a half open look that would have tied the quarter. We are doing things to continue to try and win the quarters. We want to win this tournament. We have put ourselves in a position with three games to go where we are level first and the goal for this group is to try and win everything.

"We won the first phase of the season and now we have an opportunity to try and win this. But winning games is still the most important thing and you give yourselves a great chance to win the tournament if you're able to win these last three games."

Vickerman is fully aware of the danger and talent the Bullets present, though, coming into Sunday's contest.

"Last time we played them Sobey played really well and him and Vic Law were really tough. It's a quick turnaround game so there's not going to be a heap of adjustments from what we did against New Zealand," Vickerman said.

"We'll look at the things we did against Tai Webster and how they translate to things we need to do with Sobey as well. But it was an entertaining game the last one that we played up in Brisbane and it was played at probably the highest pace that we've played at all year. 

"That thing was tiring to get up and down. They are coming off a physical game with Perth and we are coming off a tough game. I know we'll have a full house for that Sunday game with no Shootaround so we'll have a quick practice on Saturday and then turn up and roll out to play. I look forward to it."

Melbourne big man Jock Landale has been tremendous so far this season but he's proving an outstanding teammate too and spoke highly of what youngster Mason Peatling is providing.

"We've got a lot of guys down right now and people will say that's why Mason's getting minutes but to be honest with you, Mason provides that energy every game. I'm not in the minutes discussions at all obviously, but the way I see it Mason's playing himself into the roster as a valuable piece," Landale said.

"That guy, every single night when you come out and look at the plus-minus, Mason's leading us. Every single possession he plays his butt off and he gets on the boards, he does all the little things. Often times that's the stuff that we really need. We need that guy who runs the floor and crashes the boards, and from where I sit it looks like Mason is really carrying us in that area and he sparks that in other guys as well. 

"When you have Mason out on the floor working extremely hard every possession, it then translated into everyone else and then we go on a run and every time he's out there I know that scoreboard is ticking upwards in our favour. In a tournament like this, that's so valuable so he is doing an exceptional job of just making sure that every time he's out on the court he's playing those minutes like they're his last and honestly it's kind of inspiring. 

"We need that out of him and he's going to continue to do that, and that's what Mason is elite at is playing within his cylinder and doing his job at a high level. Credit to him and we knew who Mason was coming in and he might not have necessarily had the opportunities to start the season because we have such a deep roster, but Mason is providing us with a huge spark off the bench right now and it's fun to play with."

Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis couldn’t have been happier with the mindset that his team showed on Friday in the win against the Perth Wildcats in response to the loss to New Zealand, and he's hoping to see it continue.

"We were all disappointed and perhaps embarrassed with how we came out the other night so it was a little bit of a gut check about what we were doing to get ready for games. I always expected that there would be that bounce back component to it, and that we'd come back with that intent and mindset which we did. I thought we carried that through the game which was pleasing," Lemanis said. 

"There were learnings to be had out of this game like every game and it's a tight competition. You have to bring your best and if you don’t come prepared to give the effort you're not going to give yourselves a chance to be successful. We have to come out in two nights time and take the learnings, and play Melbourne United and we have to bring a similar intent to that game."

Vic Law has been a barometer of Brisbane this season and he too liked how they responded against the Wildcats on Friday.

"It just shows how together we are. Everyone is committed to winning and we want the best for each other. I think we were all kinda disappointed in ourselves coming out against New Zealand and pretty much laying an egg in that first quarter," Law said.

"But we came out and bounced back with Orlando, Sobey, Jase, Hodgy and all the guys came back and played well including Tanner who doesn’t get enough credit. Everyone played really well and it was just a really good win for us and Nathan Sobey is playing just about as good as anybody else in the league, if not the best. So hats off to Sobes and I want to see him in the Olympics."