United's line in the sand

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Dean Vickerman says free throws will be his team's main focus area ahead of the do-or-die Game 3 clash against the Hawks.

Melbourne and Illawarra’s Playoff Series is bound for a third game after a second heart-stopping overtime clash in two games between the sides – but United has been left lamenting what might have been had they made their free throws.

United was the worst free throw shooting team over the entirety of the NBL24 regular season (69.2 per cent), and those charity stripe demons once again reared their head at the WIN Entertainment Centre, where they made just 15 of 24 attempts (62.5 per cent) from the line for the game.

Matthew Dellavedova shot a perfect 5-5 from the line on the night, however Jo Lual-Acuil Jr (4-9) and Chris Goulding (3-5) were the chief offenders on the night.

Head coach Dean Vickerman says the missed free throws let his side down in the defeat.

“We shot our 30 threes, we got to the foul line 24 times, we had 23 assists, we did a lot of things offensively that were pretty good,” Vickerman said.

“It’s an area as a team, we’ve got to start shooting over 70 per cent from the foul line in these Playoff games. We’re leaving too many cheap ones at the foul line right now.

“We’ll lick our wounds, shoot our free throws a little bit better and look forward to Wednesday.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We need you Melbourne. Lock in your seats for Wednesday night's do or die game NOW - <a href="https://t.co/XE5wYJR3iQ">https://t.co/XE5wYJR3iQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/gP1E8D7Jjn">pic.twitter.com/gP1E8D7Jjn</a></p>— Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1767098139666960541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Boomers legend Dellavedova was consistently booed by the raucous Wollongong crowd in the clash, but rose above the heated atmosphere to once again impress for the away side.

After a game-winning performance in Game 1, he backed up with 18 points and eight assists in the defeat, and he says he was unaware of any ill will directed his way.

“I didn’t notice it, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“We’ll re-focus and get ready for Game 3.”

Game 3 of Melbourne’s Playoff Series against the Hawks will tip off on Wednesday night at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.