Preview: Melbourne vs Cairns - Round 9, NBL24

Saturday, December 2, 2023

Melbourne will be looking to carry their ladder-leading momentum into the second half of the campaign.

Whenandwhere

Sunday, December 3 at 2pm AEDT | John Cain Arena

Watch: Live on and free ESPN via Kayo Freebies | 10 Peach and 10 Play | International viewership details
Box scores: Download the free NBL App

Anoverview

Melbourne has been rolling to start the season, going into Round 9 with a 10-2 record. The new-look roster has gelled seamlessly despite the injuries, only having their full roster for 47 seconds, before Luke Travers left the Round 6 clash against Perth with concussion protocols.

On the other hand, Cairns has not handled their injury woes as efficiently. Falling to 4-7, the Taipans have had three starters miss significant time, with Patrick Miller, Tahjere McCall and Taran Armstrong playing a combined 17 games total this season.

Carins' woes this season continued with a loss against local rivals Brisbane on Friday night. While the Taipans fought back late to trim the margin to just five points, they entered the final quarter down 14 and easily second best in proceedings.

What this game comes down to though is the defence, with United ranking first and the Taipans second (by only 0.6%) in defensive rating. On the other end, Melbourne ranks third in offensive rating while the Cairns are last in the league. The game will come down to which team can maintain its defensive intensity.

Melbourne
105-93 win over Sydney
92-83 win over South East Melbourne
95-102 loss to Perth

Cairns
80-88 loss to Perth
87-90 loss to Tasmania
81-71 win over Illawarra

Chris Goulding
As one of the leading candidates for the MVP award this season, Chris Goulding averaged 27 points per game across Melbourne's last three contests heading into the mid-season break. Despite being one of the oldest players in the competition at 35, he's still one of the best pure scorers Australian basketball has to offer.

The impending return Matthew Dellavedova - while helping United overall - could hamper the progress of Melbourne's spiritual leader, who himself has said he doesn't plan on continuing to play as many minutes a night as he has been.

Historically, Goulding thrives when facing the Taipans. In the past two seasons, he's averaged 19.1 points per game against Cairns in six clashes. Overall he's averaged just over 16 points per contest against everyone else in that same time period.

Even in a team full of offensive weapons, Goulding is still the main man he was for the Melbourne Tigers a decade ago. If CG43 gets hot again like he did against the Kings, it could be game over.

"There's something special about being able to captivate an audience, not just any audience - a full John Cain Arena against Sydney. I'm not sure if it gets better than that ... Chris, he's a top eight all-time three-point shooter, 6,000+ career points now, [three]-time championship winner, bronze medal winner. You're talking about probably one of the top 15 careers in Australian history." - Derek Rucker on NBL Now

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Chris Goulding’s 35-point performance against the defending champs has earned him the Chemist Warehouse Fans MVP for Round 8 ?<br><br>Keep an eye on NBL channels to catch next week's nominees, and have your say ?? <a href="https://t.co/fa596eN47l">pic.twitter.com/fa596eN47l</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1727475900084834636?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Bobi Klintman
Next Star Bobi Klintman has been a sensation in Far North Queensland this season. The 6’9” 20-year-old has added a new dimension to Adam Forde’s system, being a hyper-athletic two-way tool for both ends of the floor.

With a mid-season break to refresh, reevaluate and work on his game, Klintman should come into the second half of the season with confidence.

In NBL24 he’s currently averaging 11 points and six rebounds and will be looking to add to the boxscore and the Taipans’ wins column going into the new year.

Klintman was sidelined with a hip injury prior to the mid-season break and made his return against the Bullets on Friday, where he struggled to really stamp his authority on proceedings. He came off the bench to add six points and a pair of rebounds to the stat-sheet, as Cairns rode the wave of Tahjere McCall's 29 points.

The Athletic's Sam Vecenie wrote in his recent mock draft that Klintman has these five minute patches where he's the best player on the floor, but will then drop back into relative anonymity in the Taipans' offence.

The Taipans are going to need a few of those five minute patches if they're going to overcome the ladder leaders.

"When he simply plays off instinct and attacks, he’s been terrific. When he starts thinking a bit too much, the gears in his mind start going and things slow down too much for him. He has some five-minute patches when he looks like the best player on the court and others when he is invisible. But he clearly has touch." - Sam Vecenie on Bobi Klintman's draft prospects.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bobi Klintman gets the steal and slams it ? <br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/TwprynozVv">pic.twitter.com/TwprynozVv</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1730515430685409541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Shea Ili v Patrick Miller
Rucker stated on the Round Table that Shea Ili is a better basketball player than Matthew Dellavadova. Arguing that Ili and Dellavadova’s defensive impact is so similar, Rucker would prefer to have the more offensively consistent Ili on the court.

Ili only ranks two spots higher in total plus/minus (12th and 14th respectively), with coach Dean Vickerman starting Ili in all 12 games he’s played, while starting Dellavadova in five out of six games he’s played.

Both guards have been extremely impactful this season, but Ili will likely get the nod going into Sunday’s match to take on the task of guarding Cairns leading scorer Patrick Miller given the strong shutdown role he played on Sydney's Jaylen Adams in Round 8.

In a tough start to the season, Patrick Miller has shown brightest for the Taipans in NBL24. He ranks within the top 10 of scoring and leads the league in assists going into Round 9.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Patrick Miller is too STRONG ?<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/4D1Ypfnhg9">pic.twitter.com/4D1Ypfnhg9</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1725778360490410129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He’s provided the scoring punch the Taipans have desperately all season and he’ll be looking to add it to on Sunday. In Round 8 he dropped a season-high of 26 points against the JackJumpers in the three-point loss, and on Friday night against the Bullets he was one of Cairns' most impactful, well-rounded offensive threats with 12 points and seven assists.

The Tapians force the second-worst three-point percentage (30.9%) of opponents this season so far, while United make the third most amount of triples (fourth in percentage) this season. The battle of who can control the arc could swing the outcome of this match.

Gettyimages 1800238764
Tahjere McCall.