The 'Mountain is Climbed', but United Not Done Yet

After beginning their NBL23 campaign with a stutter and a sputter, the Melbourne United machine is back rolling and roaring.

Their victory over the New Zealand Breakers on Thursday night marked their third straight win – and their sixth win in their last seven games.

All three of those wins have come on the road, with the victory in Christchurch following wins in Hobart and Brisbane.

Veteran forward Brad Newley says his team isn’t satisfied with their run so far.

“We didn’t have the best start to the season and a lot of things happened because of that. Here we are back at .500, [but] we’re not satisfied,” Newley said post-game.

“We’ve climbed the mountain and now we have to keep on going. I think the way our mentality is there’s a looseness around the group, but it’s a good looseness.

“Just do your role really well, that’s what guys are embracing and that’s how we’re going to get this job done … my role at Melbourne United the last two years has been to be ready for anything. Last year it was guarding more smaller guys and this year it’s guarding bigger guys.

“Part of being a pro is just you always have to be ready.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">N3??wley for 3??<br><br>?: ESPN on Kayo or Foxtel<a href="https://twitter.com/BradNewley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BradNewley</a> <a href="https://t.co/re9mkFumrF">pic.twitter.com/re9mkFumrF</a></p>&mdash; Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1613435167477202944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Defence was the name of the game in last night’s clash. United ran out as seven-point winners in the low scoring affair. New Zealand failed to break the 20 point per quarter mark across the game while United only managed it twice.

Both sides entered the clash missing key offensive weapons. For Melbourne it was sharpshooting veteran David Barlow and centre Isaac Humphries. For the Breakers it was scoring machine Barry Brown Jr.

“I thought we stood up well to it,” head coach Dean Vickerman said of New Zealand’s defence. “Their defence in the second half just went up another level and we were able to take a couple of charges through that and deal with their physicality.

“We found a way to get to the foul line and get some cheap ones. Their defence forces you into a lot of high pick-and-rolls and space the floor and we saw some guys able to get downhill.”

“We had them at 30 [points] at half time and we were pretty happy with that,” Newley added.

“There was no real let down, they finished on 65 … we never dropped our heads, we played through a physical game and we got the win.”

United next take to the floor on Saturday night when they travel to Perth to take on the Wildcats.