Good opportunity for Triplett, Okwera and Maluach with all the injuries

Adnam stood up for Phoenix yesterday. Who will stand up for United.

Baptism of fire for the new import trio and Humphries, all should be playing big minutes today

Also, spotlight on Tucker today after that unbelievable performance by Walton last night

Alan Williams was also impressive. Only 12pts, 7reb but he was an absolute handful attacking the rim and you can see what he's capable of, especially if he loses a few kgs

Tucker said he was the best new import. Over to you, Rayjon

Real test for Rayjon because he will matchup against Brown looks very strong defensively.

Good opening quarter so far. Breakers defence has been pretty solid

Good game, looking like good imports in the nbl this season.

Both coaches very vocal, I actually like it as long as not directed at refs.

Good game, lot talent in the nbl this season, local and imports.

Really rough outing for Caroline

One thing hasn't changed:

Chris Goulding flops.

He gets the calls so he will keep doing it.


Personally think he should have a T for flopping - blight on the game.

I like Barlow, but wild he retired - returned - and is now on court closing out the game in crunch time.

Lol, when did Barlow un-retire?

Win or lose I'm pretty happy with NZ’s performance this afternoon.

I missed his un-retirement also. Unsure if it was before or after Hukporti went out hurt for the season. I'm sure someone else here can elaborate.

Interesting to see Humphries barking from the sidelines at Tucker(?) after Brown strolled in for that layup to tie the game with 9 secs left in regulation.

I like Pardon, quality player.

Who's the coach that can be heard shouting on the broadcast? Is it Dean? Pretty vocal, putting it politely.

Congrats to United, they shot the ball well and did enough to close the game out.

Unlucky for NZ, but high quality game. The XRM shot that shouldn't have counted ends up big.

Yep, the three after the clock changed the game, can't believe no one challenged it.

Great game by both teams and both should play finals.

He is the goat but Brian g must be confused re xrm and dents games . Amazing when given opportunity what can happen

Dunkman if you knew the rules you would know you can't challenge XRM’s 3 point shot. The only thing that can occur is the referees can stop the game and review that play if it occurred within the last 2 mins of the 4th quarter or the last 2 mins of overtime.

Just watching replay now. United won't have many assists this year. Not enough balls to go around.

I thought NZ defended well especially on Goulding.
He's near impossible to stop and managed to get a few off despite some decent D but they certainly forced the rest of the United squad to beat them.

Nz’s extra pass offence was confidence inspiring.
They shared the ball and found the open man.

Gliddon is a nice addition and Pardon and Brown Jnr were much better than expected.

@Sabastian, if that's the case NZ had better ask for an explanation because from my lounge room I could see it was after the clock.
I think it was a crucial call as breakers were then chasing United with pressure on their shots .

Entertaining game of basketball. I don't see Melbourne having too many problems this season, given the sheer strength of their offensive potency. Looks like Goulding and XRM will be able to coexist in the same backcourt. They will be an effective small-ball unit and they look every bit a playoff team to me.

Special mention has to go out to Pardon who went from a complete unknown to me to looking like the best forward in the league within about 15 minutes of game time. Hell of a motor on him. Hopefully for NZ's sake he can keep it up. But overall a great advertisement of NBL basketball for Ten Peach

Dunkman I didn't say the call was correct. I just said by rule you can’t challenge it.

Good result but I didnt like how it went down

Cant expect that from XRM every night.

Concerning is Caroline's efforts thus far (over the entirety of the pre season and tonight), and the fact Humphries, while serviceable, was clearly beaten by Pardon. And the rebound count.

Vintage performance from CG though, and nice to see Barlow hitting a few shots

Not much rest for key players... 2mins for Tucker, 2.5 mins for XRM, 4mins for Goulding…

You sort of want those players doing ~35mins

Barlow 23mins and essentially the last player signed

It was an overtime game, so they got more like 6-9 min rest

It was also a function of Vickerman reading the room- both CG and XRM were hot, so he left them down the stretch And OT

The kids were still played with Barker (DP) 12 min, Okwera (DP last year, full roster this year) 11 min

The one worrying thing was Maluach 4 mins. He's an unknown but obviously Vickerman lacks confidence in him at this stage

Ah right fair enough

With Shea Ili back each of those guys will have their minutes reduced a bit too. You'd imagine Vickerman would want those guys playing around 28 mins knowing his style.

Yes, Vickerman will keep doing Vickerman things

You gotta love him, before the end of the 1st quarter yesterday, already had 4 bench players on court at once including Barker the DP.

Sometimes I've questioned his methods but his track record of developing players speaks for itself, and undoubtedly giving them minutes in real NBL games must contribute to some degree

In fact, that was by 4:32 left in Q1 that he had Barlow, Maluach, Okwera and Newley all on court.

Then 3:37 subbed in Barker for Maluach, after Maluach had only played 2:23

I've got used to this. Like I said, his record of player development (and winning) speaks for itself.

What he does is no different to what other top clubs around the world do. Use your depth so your players are more effective and play at a higher intensity when they're on the court.

Nah Vickerman is a little to the progressive side,

Not just sub patterns but willingness to experiment with starting 5's which results in things like Chris Goulding or Melo Trimble coming off the bench. Or Sam McDaniel and Mason Peatling being starters on a championship team.

Just watched the replay. Some observations:
- United got the win but we're very unconvincing. Vickerman teams have been known as defensive orientated but this lineup looks very soft defensively with Brown Jr able to slice them through the middle with a ease, while Pardon too big and athletic inside for Humphries who still looks injured. Barlow as their backup 5 is a major concern as he’ll struggle through a full season. Caroline looks undersized, unfit with poor skills. Surely a change gets made for a genuine 4/5. John Mooney type?

Role players have been starting on championship sides for a long time! Vickerman is a good coach, willing to make adjustments, but his strategy of sharing his minutes to use his depth is common throughout the world. There were only 15 players in the entire Euroleague who averaged 30mins last season.

European sides that play in Europe play 70 plus games a season, that is why most players play around 25 minutes a game. There is lots travel as well.
Vickerman does play his squad now but in his NZ days and early seasons at United he played only 8 deep.

European teams that play in Europe! Where else would they play Einstein?

He obviously means in Euroleague. Regardless, if they thoughts playing their starters bigger minutes worked best, they'd do that in Euroleague games and give them more rest against lesser teams in their domestic comp. They don't.

The reason for reducing minutes is to increase the intensity your team can play with. It's basic sports science and has been utilised in the NBL and Europe for quite a while now. In Vickerman's championship year in NZ only Cedric Jackson played more than 28 minutes per game.

There are four European leagues plus the own home leagues , Einstein, but off course you don't know that. You have to qualify through your own leagues to get in the BCL and fiba euro cup, the euro league and euro cup where the top teams play is a buy your way in. So if you play in Germany you play in Germany and if you are not in any of the other European leagues, it’s Germany only.
But you knew that Einstein,

Last year CG43 was United's highest minutes player

28.6mpg, 22nd in the NBL

JLA was 2nd, 25.7mpg and 37th in the NBL

United had a top 3 MVP player and he was 37th in the league in minutes. Illawarra had 5 players averaging more minutes than JLA

Vickerman definitely shares it around compared to the rest of the NBL.

In their last championship season he kept Landale's minutes in check during the regular season and let him off the leash in the playoffs. Vickerman knows what he's doing, I've said it for a number of years now he's the best coach in the league.

Only 15 players in the NBL averaged 30 minutes last season, 1.5 per team. Yes, Vickerman is at the upper edge due to the amount of depth he's had, but he's certainly not an outlier.

No doubt playing Landale less helped JLA's development which helped JLA and United the following season

I was hoping same would be true for Hukporti and Peatlihg this year but they're both injured

Almost any other NBL coach, if they had an MVP level player, they would play them 30 minutes a night. Not Vickerman

Over time I've learnt to trust him

Vickerman played Landale 28 minutes per night, the same amount Xavier Cooks, Jarell Martin and Duop Reath played last season. Again, he's hardly an outlier.

Landale was clearly better in 2021 than those guys in 2022. Cotton played 36, Sobey 34, Casper 33, Mooney 33, Creek 32. Landale 28.

McCarron United's highest at 30, 17th in NBL. United had 11 players averaging at least 16 mins per game. (Inc White who only played 11 games)

Last year JLA played 25. Cotton played 35, Creek 34, Law 33, Adams 31. Cleveland 29, Cook 28. JLA less than any other MVP candidate.

CG was United's highest, 22nd in NBL. United had 10 players averaging at least 14 minutes (inc Baba who only played 10 games).

The numbers are unequivical here. 2 years in a row United hasn't had anyone in top 15 NBL in minutes. Vickerman shares the minutes and rests his stars more

Other NBL coaches wouldn't have given McDaniel 16 minutes a game in 2021, or Peatling 14 a game in 2022. Other coaches would've played JLA more than 25 last year. Etc

In 2021 it was a loaded starting 5 or top 7 or 8, but it wasn't considered an overly deep roster- until Peatling and McDaniel had proven they belonged in a rotation that most didn't expect them to feature heavily in

In 2022, United started 5th favourite for the title. They only had 2 serious scorers on the team, and Vickerman only played them 25 and 28 minutes!

To make the point another way, last year CG43 was absolutely crucial to United. As important to them as almost any player was to any team. Everyone could see this. JLA was also vital. Yet Vickerman didn't do what say, Morrison did with Cotton or Mitchell did with Creek, and play them the whole game. Vickerman has a different philosophy.

"Vickerman shares the minutes and rests his stars more"

Yes he does, he does that the most in the NBL as I stated earlier, but he is not an outlier nor is he doing anything new. Brian Goorjian played Chris Anstey 26 minutes per game in the 48 minute era the year he returned from the NBA.

It's very common for big men to play in the 20s, here are plenty of examples from some of the better big men in the league the past few years:

NBL22
Cooks 28
Reath 28
Martin 28
Acuil 26
Magnay 24

NBL21
Landale 28
Martin 27
Wetzell 26
Humphries 24

NBL20
Johnson 28
Long 26
Magnay 22
Bogut 22

NBL19
Bogut 29
Johnson 28
Long 27
Boone 24
Bairstow 21