I think a player couldn't get a tech even if they tried. NBA has gone too far but hate to see a guy like Kickert go nuts and swear right in the refs face.

Kickert and Tomlinson are the two biggest sooks in the league.

Blanchfield with a vintage Sydney Kings-era Kevin White line at half time, 16:43 mins court time, 0-1 shooting 1 foul.

To those confused by AngusH's post, a ref approached the United coach, switched off his mic and said (amongst other things) "Don't you talk to me like I'm a piece of shit" - however, the coach's mic was active and it was picked up.

Good call. Coaches are all crossing the line frequently, entering the court, routinely arguing, etc.

Main difference this game vs the last couple of games for Melbourne is that Holt is on fire, like everyone for Melbourne was to start the season.

Tigers?

In my defense, I set the subject 'Melbourne vs Townsville'. ;p

Don't have a problem with ocassional questioning and minor displays of unhappiness but the full on swearing in the ref's face, intimidation and general disrespect needs to be addressed.

Second highlight would be the United 8- Crocs 7 third quarter, just horrible.

So far this is up there with that NZ-Sixers game near the start of the season as one of the ugliest this season.

Goulding's in a serious slump at the moment. Missed his last 13 3 point attempts.

You live by the step back contested three, you die by it.

lol... right on queue, vintage Goulding right there.

Townsville's best offense seems to be just letting Steindl jack up jumpers and hope for the best.

YEAH.

JUST ONE TIME.

AND EVERYBODY GOTTA REBOUND.

AND AFTER THE GAME WE GO GET PIZZA.

MAYBE WATCH SOME NETFLIX.

AIIGHT?

Melbourne's coach. Missed his calling as an audio book narrator.

Thank god it's over.

Melbourne United is not guaranteed to make the top 4.

They just escaped with a win in one of the ugliest games I've seen.

They've had most of their games at home. Played Crocs 4 times. Sydney twice, early in Harrington's stint before he got fit. They beat Hawks minus Lisch and Adelaide pre Randle, both in competitive matches on their home court. They played NZ minus Wesley and Vukona and got bailed out by the refs for a tight win. Played NZ again and got beaten. Have only played Perth once.

Rebounding is a weakness and have limited variety in their offensive sets. It's become apparent that teams have scouted them: they need more variety. They also need Goulding to find himself again. 3 weeks ago people thought he was a shoe in for MVP. 3 weeks later he's barely in the conversation; Lisch, Ogilvy, Randle, Webster all comfortably ahead and possibly Holt too.

The way United has played lately, there's absolutely no guarantee that they'll win the necessary 4-6 games of their remaining 15 - and a relatively tough 15 too- in order to make playoffs.

From @NBLFacts on Twitter:

43 shot attempts by @MelbUnitedHQ tonight is lowest shots ever taken by any team since stats have been recorded in @NBL

@MelbUnitedHQ 8-points vs @TsvCrocs 7-points in 3rd is lowest combined scoring quarter in @NBL history. (Was GCB 6 vs Melb 12 in Dec 2011)

That game was pure aids.

Crocs are better than I thought. They just compete. United were out hustled in that first quarter. When Warrick and Holt got going in the second I thought it might turn into a blow out. But the Crocs just never give up. Good on em

I beg to differ about United. Its always a very good sign when you can win games on the road, and win ugly out of character type games. These ones never show up in the ed of season highlight packages but they truly represent the grind of the season. You find ways to win, when your playing bad, and they keep you afloat until it all starts to click again. One good thing for United, Warrick looked a lot better.

Townsville stay in games because they give more effort than the opponent, even if their offense looks like under 14s div 4 at times.

Once again, I wonder how Blanchfield feels about the move to Melbourne as far as his career development goes. 1-3 shooting. I'm sure a steady paycheck and less fear of your team suddenly going under is some comfort, but man could Townsville use another scorer on the wing.

LV you conveniently left out Warrick has missed 6 of their 12 games. He would have made a difference. United might be in a slump (partly due to losing Warrick for those games) but they will make it into the top 4 no worries.

Don't get me wrong I think United will make top 4.

But they don't deserve to be $1.01 for the top 4 and $1.90 for minor prem or whatever ridiculous odds the bookies have them on this week. Fact is they have had a *very very very extremely insanely!* easy run so far compared to most teams.

NZ has been 6 and 1 since Webster's return and their only loss was minus Wesley and Vukona and with tough call from the refs at the death. They have similar talent to United but look the more complete, well rounded team (as long as Cedric stays healthy). Perth has battled injuries and looks tough. Cairns looks tough now and have split United 1-1. 36ers are a different team with Randle and Sydney will be with Childress. Hawks will be very tough once they get Martin and Demos back to support their big 3(if this league was a 3 on 3 comp I'd back Ogilvy Lisch and Penney, they just need more support).

So it's a tough league out there and Melbourne have not been tested like other teams have. And they do have weaknesses. It's a long season so don't forget we aren't even half way yet.

United will make the four. They've got way too much of a head start not to. They might only finish third or fourth, possibly, but they're not missing the playoffs from here.

LV - you have to remember that United is pretty much starting from scratch this year with basically a whole new roster and coach - at this point in the season of course they will not be as "complete and well rounded" as teams like NZ and Perth who have had a stable core team for years. And like KingJames said Warrick has ben out fir half the games and Barlow and Odigie have not posted at all.

Just an amendment. Without looking at any stats, off the top of my head, my MVP would be Ogilvy, followed by Jackson and followed by Holt. Goulding is still in the conversation but only because so many other candidates had late starts to their season (Lisch Randle Webster).

Point is Goulding has fallen spectacularly. He must get some form back asap.

I'm sure Adelaide will let him get going Sunday.

Actually I didn't see the Townsville game so hadn't realised he had a good game by the looks of it.

Still, he was awful tonight. If you want to be an MVP you can't put in stretches like he has over the past 4 games.

Yes you're right about starting from scratch. But that advantage will still exist for NZ and Perth come finals time. United has had a few months together to get going, another 15 games won't necessarily make a difference compared to NZ's All Blacks guys plus Cedric who have been together for years . I also meant roster wise too. NZ has similar talent but more actual complementary skill sets. More different types of string in their bow. As long as Jackson is there to kick it off.

"I beg to differ about United. Its always a very good sign when you can win games on the road, and win ugly out of character type games."

Spot on, a huge win for Melbourne in an ugly battle where they struggled to get any rhythm. Those wins are just as important as the ones where everything clicks.

Totally agree that you have to be able to find a way to win, and you need to be able to win games in multiple ways to be a great team. And United have managed to do that.

But my point about the ease of their run leaves a very valid question mark on them as we get to the half way mark. No other team has had it anything like this easy so far. Injuries to United - Warrick out but they had a serviceable replacement, schedule - home games, opposition played, opposition injuries- all those 4 factors have contributed to a very easy draw.

I suppose you can only beat the teams in front of you. But for mine NZ looks stronger than United at this point. And Perth might too once they finally have a fit Martin (not the out of shape version who suited up last time vs United and played 10 minutes).

So I guess that's my point, if I piece together all of my comments here tonight- United does not deserve to be favourite. They are clear favs with the bookies which is totally out of line with what we've seen this season.

NZ is a clear favourite. Perth, like United have shown ability to win in multiple ways so they have their nose in front given Martin is about to return.

I don't think there's too much doubt Perth and NZ are the favourites, they are every year until someone else proves otherwise, but Melbourne are a deserving third. They're in a little slump at the moment but that will happen to every team at some point.

Anon, don't know how you'd "possibly" take Webster over Goulding, but you'd definently take Jackson, Lisch, Randle and Holt over him.

Webster, IMO, is the MVP.

Reason: look at how bad NZL were without him. Look at how good they are with him. Take him away from that NZL outfit and they're scrapping for 4th place IMO.

It's an indictment on townsville to lose a game to a team who set the league record for fewest FGA...

It sounds like we're in agreement then Paul that United should be 3rd favourite.

Sportsbet has them at $2.75 favourite, with NZ @ $3.30 and Perth $4.00.

On MVP, Ogilvy's impact has been huge. He has been dominant in a league of strong big men this year. It doesn't surprise me at all that in his two quiet games the Hawks have been beaten.

Without him they'd really struggle. In a team of shooters he is the rock that competes on the inside. He isn't spectacular but is massively effective at protecting the rim, rolling to the basket, making moves from the low post. A really strong traditional 5 man style guy who is taking the league this year and saying "this is mine". A pleasure to watch.

When are refs gonna stop rewarding plays like Goldings baseline drive - get stopped so he jumps into the defender, throws himself back and as or after the whistle he tosses the ball in the general direction of the backboard - and is gifted free throws! How about rewarding a defender who actually covers the base line drive?

How about free throws are the consequence of someone being fouled while in the act of shooting?
Golding is great for this league. Every other team wil hate him because of his flopping etc, but have to admit he can shoot when he get going. He's specatular but he is definitely not too good for this league.

"Reason: look at how bad NZL were without him. Look at how good they are with him. Take him away from that NZL outfit and they're scrapping for 4th place IMO."

This is poor logic. Firstly, the game before he came back they lost 83-80 in Perth without Pledger.

Most importantly though, Webster was effectively an addition. He replaced Bailey who wasn't playing, and when you keep all the existing pieces and add a quality piece of course the team is going to improve.

If you actually look at Webster's performances though, he has had three outstanding offensive games, two decent ones and two poor ones, while defensively he has been excellent at times and poor at others.

I'd have him in the top bunch but he certainly hasn't been a consistent standout just yet.

Would love to see more of Majok. He shows early in games that he has interior presence on offence but as the game wears on he spends large chunks on the bench (usually foul trouble) and/or the team don't look for him.

Agree with Big Country, I'd like to see more of Majok, he seems to play a great Draymond Green/Dennis Rodman type role, would love to see that for 25-30 mins a game and have 20+ rebounds.

paul, with all due respect it's not exactly poor logic.

Simply put:

- Breakers go 1-4 without him through the first five games losing by an average margin of 13.66 points;

- Webster comes back

- Breakers go 6-1 over their next seven winning games by 12,23,10,8,12,11 points respectively (average of 12.6 points winning margin)

- With Webster back, the Breakers beat ADL - a +29 margin on the earlier season loss (lost by 19, won by 10). And this was against a stronger 36ers team with Randle in the lineup!

- Sure the Breakers were close in the Perth game, but they got thumped by the Hawks (19 points) and the 36ers (19 points) before Webster came back.

I will admit that I do rate Ogilvy as an MVP chance and think he is equally valuable to his team.

But I am just not sure his team will have the results to justify him winning MVP.

Again, poor logic. You've added an additional piece, of course they'll get better. Take AJ Ogilvy out of the Hawks and replace him with a 10th man who doesn't play and see how they go.

There are plenty of other ways to point out Webster's worth, but saying a team gets better by adding him in place of Bailey is rather pointless.

If you look at NZ's losses they've had an average of 2.25 players missing. In their wins it's 0.7.

paul, agree to disagree.

The MVP is a subjective award anyway so not everyone is going to be in the same boat.

I think your logic is poor. You think mine is poor logic. Well done!

Haha, indeed!

I think Webster's an MVP candidate, I just don't think a player improving a team when he is added to the team they've already got is a very good way of judging it.

That's a no-brainer for any half-decent player, particularly when the rest of the roster is healthier after their arrival than before.

C'mon guys, everyone knows the clear MVP front-runner is .

Ogilvy is definitely MVP if Illawarra make the four. So dominant inside and consistent night in night out.

Why does everyone always insist on looking at team record when deciding MVP? It's not a team award.

Nobody mentioning Daniel Johnson? He's leading my count at the moment.

Just checked the numbers, and Adelaide had played an extra game over Illawarra and NZ, so that helps DJ out.

But to the earlier argument: Ogilvy would have the same effect on Illawarra that Webster had on New Zealand, he just hasn't had the opportunity to do that because he hasn't missed any games.

And to me, being on the court makes you a lot more valuable than being off it, so that actually works in Ogilvy's favour.

Johnson would be in the discussion if only one end was considered, ala the NBA, but I don't think he's up there with coaches voting on it who know full well what his D is like.

DJ's not even the MV Sixer. Randle is clearly the best on your team.

DJ's played more games, so he's going to lead a game-by-game vote. Same thing applies to Randle as to Webster, too, that a guy isn't particularly valuable to his team if he's not playing.