Preview: Melbourne vs New Zealand - Round 19, NBL24

Friday, February 9, 2024

New Zealand has kept its Finals hopes well and truly kicking with its Friday night win over Illawarra.

Sunday, February 11 at 2pm AEDT | John Cain Arena

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Ariel Hukporti has revealed he has been playing with two broken teeth during Melbourne’s recent run of away games and in the absence of Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. Lual-Acuil Jr missed United’s Round 15 and 16 clashes due to personal reasons.

Dean Vickerman revealed he discussed Hukporti’s draftability with the Memphis Grizzlies earlier this week, and he praised the Next Star’s ability to move past frustration and his selflessness to the team.

Vickerman has also asserted United is treating these last two rounds of the regular season like Finals, and will not be resting any star players.

New Zealand defeated Illawarra by three points in the opening game of Round 19. The victory has kept the Breakers’ Finals hopes healthy, and moved them above the Hawks and Kings into fifth position.

Mody Maor praised his side’s character in the narrow win, and saved a special mention for Izayah Le’Afa’s ability to contribute in the crucial late stages despite enduring a difficult game to that point.

Melbourne
99-83 win over South East Melbourne
86-98 loss to Sydney
93-77 win over Brisbane

New Zealand
88-85 win over Illawarra
89-78 win over Perth
85-89 loss to Illawarra

Ariel Hukporti
There are players playing through pain at this point of every NBL season, and it’s a fact that continues to be repeated around the competition – especially given the closeness of NBL24.

Ariel Hukporti revealed he’d been playing through the pain of two broken teeth following an accidental stray elbow in training, and despite his on-court communication abilities being diminished – and being in near constant pain while playing – Hukporti helped United to some solid performances in the absence of Jo Lual-Acuil Jr.

That resilience and ability to play through the pain is another green tick on an ever-lengthening list as to why the German is such a good teammate to have, and such a powerful presence on the court.

Following Dean Vickerman’s own revelations he was in detailed discussions with the Memphis Grizzlies during the week about Hukporti’s off-court demeanour and personality, that toughness is another step in the right direction to his hopes of being drafted.

“I caught an elbow in practice from one of our DPs straight to the mouth, I broke two of my teeth, one got pushed forward and the other one got pushed backwards. I’m used to it from Europe, coming from Europe in my first year, we Europeans aren’t really big on pain like that so I just took it on my chest, I had to play two more games. Jo had some personal problems so I had to step up for the team.” – Ariel Hukporti mid-week.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Both Dean Vickerman & Ariel Hukporti spoke with the media today as the squad gets ready to take on the Breakers this Sunday afternoon in front of another packed out JCA. <br>Watch the full interviews here: <br>Ariel - <a href="https://t.co/D1GxqkJudE">https://t.co/D1GxqkJudE</a><br>Dean - <a href="https://t.co/3mNPuZL7qi">https://t.co/3mNPuZL7qi</a> <a href="https://t.co/PX1MA0kXCQ">pic.twitter.com/PX1MA0kXCQ</a></p>— Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1755815034393903208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Parker Jackson-Cartwright
It was Zylan Cheatham who stepped up in the absence of Anthony Lamb in New Zealand’s win over Perth. For the Breakers’ narrow Friday night win over Illawarra, that honour fell to Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

In all honesty, all of the Breakers’ starting unit stepped up in a big way. Cheatham had a double-double, Will McDowell-White scored 16 points, and Mangok Mathiang pulled in 10 boards and had a team-high two blocks, but it was the diminutive guard who rose above the rest.

Jackson-Cartwright crossed the 30-point threshold for just the second time in his NBL career, and his scoring outburst was made all the more impressive by the fact he only shot four free throws for the entire game.

He also grabbed four boards, dished seven assists and grabbed a pair of steals.

In short, he was just a cut above the rest in what was a game filled with exceptional performances on both sides. He proved to be a key difference in a game that, had New Zealand lost, could have seen the Breakers pushed out of the reckoning for a Finals place.

The question is, can he do it again?

“Whether it’s Anthony or Z who got hurt early on, you just see how we’ve been dealt adversity and how we’ve handled it. We just keep going, we keep a positive mindset, we listen to our leader and go out and try and do the best we can, and fight to win these games.” – Parker Jackson-Cartwright following the win over New Zealand.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Parker hit ‘em with that LEFT, RIGHT ??<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/eommzkJDc1">pic.twitter.com/eommzkJDc1</a></p>— BNZ Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1755862206997258568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ian Clark vs Finn Delany
New Zealand may have crashed home to a three-point win over Illawarra on Thursday, but one moderately concerning aspect of the nature of the victory is the lack of scoring punch from their bench.

Five players combined for 49 minutes from the bench, but only scored 10 points between them. Three of those came from Izayah Le’Afa, and seven came from Finn Delany.

Melbourne will likely look to get good minutes into as much of its bench unit as possible, and that secondary group is led by Best Sixth Man candidate Ian Clark.

Clark’s propensity for quickfire scoring has been on show throughout his time with Sydney and Adelaide in the NBL, but the strong nature of Melbourne’s guard rotation has given him the opportunity to thrive alongside basically whatever group Dean Vickerman sees fit.

Having a former All-NBL Second Team nominee in Delany coming off the bench is a luxury that’s just about unique to New Zealand, and although he’s surely still shaking off the effects of a long-term calf injury, Delany is likely the player to help lead the way for the Breakers when the starters are out.

Maor’s approach of tinkering with his starting five could see Delany starting on Sunday, who knows? But given the performances of New Zealand’s starting five against Illawarra, that would be unlikely.

Even if they rotate heavily, Melbourne is still an absolute beast of a full-team unit, and Clark is the head of that snake. The Breakers’ bench will need to fire against the ladder-leaders, and Delany should be the player to lead the way.

Melbourne has won its last nine games against New Zealand at John Cain Arena. The last time the Breakers defeated United at the venue was in Round 1 of NBL19, when 25 points from Tai Wesley led New Zealand to a seven-point win.

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Tai Wesley.