Travers calls for starters to "ramp up" defence

Offence wins games, defence wins championships. It’s a basketball mindset as old as the game itself, and Melbourne’s final quarter defensive stand in Thursday’s win over Illawarra showcased exactly why United have been title favourites all season long.

Melbourne struggled in the opening three quarters of the first game of its Playoff Series against Illawarra, and the top-seeded side found itself trailing by as many as 16 points early in the final term.

A clutch rearguard action led by Matthew Dellavedova and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr saw United mount a comeback to level the scores and force an overtime period, where they then walked over the Hawks to win by nine points.

For as good as the team’s defence was at the end of the game, star forward Luke Travers says his side needs to figure out how to start the game with that type of energy.

“It was all the defensive end,” Travers said post-game.

"We were giving them too many easy ones in the first half and we spoke about it together in the locker room, just up the effort, it’s Playoffs. You have to bring 100 per cent effort every time and every possession as well.

“We didn’t exactly show it in that second half but in that little patch at the end we really ramped it up.

“We wanted to stamp our game from the beginning, we said the first three minutes were super important and we didn’t do that.

“We’ll address it and talk about it as starters about coming out a little bit more energised, but it’s Playoffs – you have to come out with 100 per cent all the time.”

Illawarra head coach Justin Tatum expressed his frustration at a perceived change in officiating in the fourth quarter that allowed Melbourne back into the game, but Melbourne counterpart Dean Vickerman believes it was United’s improved rim protection – largely from Lual-Acuil Jr – that halted Illawarra’s momentum.

Vickerman says he felt the number of fouls across the game were at a good level for this stage of the season.

“It was 17 to 18 fouls, that’s a good Playoff number,” he said.

"You’re letting a few things go at that number, you’re letting people play and you’re letting players decide the game. We’re always going to argue about a few calls but I thought the way we protected the rim – we’ll look back and see what kind of contact there was – but I thought we did a great job protecting the rim in the fourth quarter compared to what we did at the start of the game.

“I love Jo’s turnaround. He was saying he wasn’t doing things we needed him to do early in the game and I thought he was minus 13 and he ended up plus 13.

“There was a period there where he just changed and rebounded everything and didn’t give them second shots, and just did what we needed him to do to protect the rim and block shots.

“Their number in the paint went from 65 per cent to 45 per cent once we got our defence right in the way we protected the rim.”

Melbourne will take a 1-0 series lead into Sunday’s clash at the WIN Entertainment Centre, which will be shown live and free on ESPN via Kayo Sports from 3pm AEDT.