United rediscover identity

Eight days earlier and Dean Vickerman was searching for answers, but two road wins later and Melbourne United are looking good in second spot, Ian Clark is back in form, and they are returning home for the first time in 2025.

When Melbourne lost to the league-leading Illawarra Hawks last Saturday night by 22 points, things were delicately poised with them having lost six of the last nine games, and still having two more on the road to go in their seven-straight away matches.

Even the three wins across that nine-game stretch saw them unconvincing in Cairns, and then winning at the death on perfectly executed last possessions against Sydney and New Zealand.

The offence had dried up too, averaging 92.0 points over that stretch after having put up 107.4 in the previous five which were all victories.

Fast forward a week and United have answered the challenge, starting with a gritty win in Perth on Wednesday night over the second placed Wildcats, and then backing it up with a demolition job in Brisbane on Sunday by 27 points of the injury ravaged Bullets.

What that has done is leave a top two finish in the destiny of United, with two home games back at John Cain Arena remaining over the next two Saturday nights against the Tasmania JackJumpers and South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Across the two wins for Melbourne in Perth there were plenty of strong performers, including Matthew Dellavedova delivering 31 points and 13 assists, Jack White 43 points and 22 rebounds, Chris Goulding 32 points and six threes, and Shea Ili 15 points, 11 assists and four steals.

None were more significant than the return to form of Ian Clark. Having averaged just 5.5 points the previous six games, he showed encouraging signs in Perth with 16 points on 8/15 shooting, and then burst back to form in Brisbane with five three-pointers for 24 points.

"The goal of this team is just to have everyone playing well and we're getting closer to that at the moment," Vickerman said.

"We can't win a championship or even consider doing well in a playoff series unless we get everybody playing well and everyone through the season, it's never just a smooth progression for everybody.

"Everybody has these dips and you get through it, and it makes you stronger and he's (Clark) through that little patch now and other people have had those patches throughout the year.

"One of my jobs as head coach is to keep seeing what I can do to help everybody just get to their best level. I didn’t do too much with him, we showed him some film and there was a couple of things in there where we could make a little adjustment. Then he was off and going."

Given Clark has had such a strong career of performing at a high level whether as part of an NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors, an NBL championship at the Sydney Kings or any of his other career stops, he rightfully maintained faith in his own ability.

It was still nice for him to start to see some shots fall where he contributed to a win in Perth, and then for him to catch fire again in Brisbane to help the team to two important road victories.

"I hold myself to a high standard because I try to work really hard, but also it's for the guys in the locker room and you never want to let those guys down," Clark said.

"Being able to hear everybody in my ear today pouring confidence in me and telling me to stay aggressive, that's something they've been doing all year. To come out and have a game like that (is good) but it's not really about me, it's about how we've been playing.

"In that second quarter we played great defence and got back to the identity of who we are, and that just opens up everything and we can play free-flowing.

"We have selfless guys who continue to make plays for each other and it's fun playing basketball that way. Everyone in our organisation pulls for each other and that's what makes us really special."

Clark now can't wait to get back to John Cain Arena, for what is likely to be two sold out matches against the JackJumpers and Phoenix to close the regular season before being part of another finals push with United that he's all too familiar with.

"It's always exciting to get back home to play in front of our fans. They give us the energy that we need so these last two are going to be pretty big and we just have to make sure we come out and have fun as well," Clark said.

"It's always a privilege to be in these situations and everybody doesn’t get a chance to be in the playoffs and compete for a championship so you never want to take it for granted.

"We've got a lot of guys that have won before in this locker room so we build off each other's experiences, and try to lean on each other these last few games."