Preview: Melbourne vs Perth - Round 6, NBL24

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Perth picked up a much-needed win over Adelaide on Saturday. Can they use that momentum to upset Melbourne?

Whenandwhere

Monday, November 6 at 7:30pm AEDT | John Cain Arena

Watch: Live on ESPN via Kayo Sports - International viewership details
Box scores: Download the free NBL App

Melbourne will enter the clash well-rested having not played a game since its October 29 win over Illawarra.

Matthew Dellavedova will return for United after suffering concussion in Round 3. It will be the first game Melbourne has its full roster available this season.

Perth stopped its four-game losing streak with a back-and-forth win over Adelaide at RAC Arena on Saturday night.

Bryce Cotton top scored with 29 points in the win, after John Rillie pulled a surprise by injecting Hyrum Harris into the starting lineup to great effect.

Melbourne
96-84 win over Illawarra
90-82 win over Tasmania
97-88 win over New Zealand

Perth
99-88 win over Adelaide
79-84 loss to Brisbane
78-89 loss to Adelaide

Chris Goulding
You have to be doing something right if your biggest rival’s best player is labelling you an MVP candidate, and that’s exactly what South East Melbourne’s Alan Williams called Chris Goulding during the week on NBL Overtime.

While it’s Williams himself, Nathan Sobey and Milton Doyle who are taking up most of the MVP conversations so far this season, Goulding has quietly been putting together a pretty strong season, even if his shooting splits were below his lofty standards early in the season.

He seems to have found his role amongst a guard rotation that contains a veritable litany of scorers, and as one of the greatest shooters to ever grace the NBL, more shots for Goulding has tended to equal bigger wins for Melbourne.

There’s a long way to go in the MVP race – and the NBL24 season – but seeing Goulding doing what he does best at the age of 35 is still an absolute pleasure.

“I’ve got a surprise pick and it hurts me to say, because he plays for our biggest rival, but I think it’s CG43 - Chris Goulding. His ability to impact that team, be a leader on that team, averaged 16 points per game and almost four made threes per game, and that intensity and energy he plays with ... best player and best team, to me, equals league MVP.” – Alan Williams on NBL Overtime.

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Bryce Cotton
Whisper it quietly, but is Bryce back? One game doesn’t make a turnaround in form, but boy oh boy did Bryce Cotton look back to his GOAT-status self against the Adelaide 36ers on Saturday night.

Cotton still started the game slowly and missed shots you would usually expect him to make, but a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions late in the second quarter changed the course of his personal game, and he didn’t look back.

He ended with a game-high 29 points, and threw in a handful of rebounds for good measure.

It’s still a long way back for the Wildcats if they want to compete at the top end of the table this season, but if Cotton plays like that game in, game out, they’ll win far more than they lose.

“It feels good, I won’t lie. To have my first game coming out like this – I don’t know who that other guy was wearing by jersey the first seven games – but it feels good to be back, I feel.” – Bryce Cotton following the win over Adelaide.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">HERE COMES BRYCE ??<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/bFlTVsHq6h">pic.twitter.com/bFlTVsHq6h</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1720739351540142092?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ian Clark vs Jordan Usher
Whether Ian Clark starts the game or comes off the bench depends on the role the fit-again Matthew Dellavedova will play on Monday, but have the Perth Wildcats found import Jordan Usher’s new spot outside the starting unit?

Usher came off the bench behind high-energy grit-and-grind man Hyrum Harris in Saturday’s win over Adelaide, and both Usher and Harris played their best games for the Wildcats in weeks – for Harris, perhaps his best yet.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ian Clark from long range ? <br><br>Watch live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/USuOKtkGaH">pic.twitter.com/USuOKtkGaH</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1717833263471821149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

As soon as Clark signed for Melbourne he was being spoken about as a Best Sixth Man candidate, and he’s been on fire while Dellavedova has been absent in these past few games.

While there is still plenty to play out as Dean Vickerman and John Rillie continue to tinker with their rotations, Clark and Usher could well be two of the most electric bench scorers in the competition should they continue in their currently expected roles.