How Playoffs primed Melbourne

Melbourne United looked like a championship side in their Game 1 defeat of Tasmania in this season’s Championship Series, and former NBL MVP Derek Rucker believes United’s grind-out, three-game Playoff Series win over the Hawks has set them up for title success.

United endured a pair of nail-biting overtime clashes against Illawarra, before they locked away their Championship Series place with a six-point win last week.

The 23-point win over Tasmania is Melbourne’s biggest since its Round 11 success over South East Melbourne.

“That was the victory Melbourne Untied fans and the team have been looking for. A convincing runaway victory in the fourth quarter where they win it by 23,” Rucker said on the Coca-Cola Cool Down.

“Sometimes a previous Playoff Series, while it’s a struggle can actually benefit you provided you advance. Illawarra pushed these guys and got them ready for this series.

“We saw them struggle in the Illawarra series ... I think this type of victory will release a lot of pressure and allow them to go down to Tasmania with a better idea of what it takes to win basketball games at this level. This team, collectively, has not done it.

“Even though Melbourne United won a championship just three years ago, this group of guys together has not.

“It was a game they had to have, they needed to get this game on their home court, now they can go to Tasmania and play with a little bit of house money now, they can try and steal Game 2 and if they do that they’re clearly in the driver’s seat.”

Melbourne as a collective hit 14 of their 28 three-point attempts across the game, and were led by Chris Goulding who it 6-10 by himself.

Head coach Dean Vickerman has been bullish on ensuring Goulding takes roughly 10 threes per game, and Rucker praised United for not blazing away from three across the contest despite their strong shooting early on.

“I like the fact they realised they had it going, that they were sharpshooting the basketball in the first half, but they didn’t get careless and they still had good shot selection,” Rucker said.

“We’ve seen at times Melbourne Untied just blaze away ... 28 is a good sweet spot for them for three-point attempts in a game.

“Full credit to them for playing intelligently and not getting carried away with the three-point shot despite the success they were having with it.”

Game 2 of the Championship Series between Melbourne and Tasmania will tip off at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.