Melbourne United’s NBL championship credentials battered by Brisbane Bullets

Monday night’s 90-74 defeat to Brisbane could be one of two things for Melbourne United. A lesson or a sign of something more sinister for the reigning NBL champions.

Josh Boone gives United reason to celebrate. (Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

IT could be one of two things for Melbourne United.

A lesson or a sign of something more sinister for the reigning NBL champions.

United succumbed to Brisbane Bullets for the second time in as many sleeps and in doing so slipped back to the pack ever so slightly with Andrew Bogut’s Sydney Kings and the Bullets eyeing a top-two spot behind Perth Wildcats.

The Bullets answered every question United posed in Monday night’s emphatic 90-74 win at Melbourne Arena in front of 7083.

Reuben Te Rangi under pressure from DJ Kennedy. (AAP Image/Hamish Blair)

The visitors bounced out of the blocks, weathered the surge, and then put United to the sword with Lamar Patterson, Cameron Gliddon, Jason Cadee and Reuben Te Rangi making big baskets in the last quarter.

The hunger is there for United, no question, but the NBL champions might actually be gluttons for punishment.

A momentum team suited to the grind of — dare we say — post-season basketball.

For United, thankfully after this performance, championships aren’t handed out in December — or January for that matter.

Melbourne try to close down Jeremy Kendle. (AAP Image/Hamish Blair)

The consecutive losses could be the building blocks United coach Dean Vickerman needs to help the team find another gear after scratching out wins in the first half of the season.

United needed a spark and for a change it was the tallest — not shortest — man on the roster that delivered under lights.

Mr 250 Alex Pledger hit back-to-back buckets to slash the margin to five before the first of two telling blocks allowed United to run the floor and score going the other way.

A trademark dunk from the seven-feet tall four-time NBL championship winner in the second quarter capped the tide-turning cameo off United’s bench.

Cameron Gliddon shoots. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

Pint-sized Ware dug deep into his bag of tricks to help United erase an early nine-point deficit with a half-court buzzer beater to end the first quarter and then a corner three amid United’s first-half scoring spree.

But United’s efforts were in vain as the visiting Bullets made it back-to-back wins over the NBL champions after getting the chocolates in Brisbane last Saturday.

United’s loss sets up crunch top-of-the-table clash with Perth Wildcats next Monday night at Melbourne Arena.

United coach Dean Vickerman criticised the effort and body language his team displayed in the lacklustre second half.

Dean Vickerman couldn’t hide his frustration. (Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

“They got good contributions out of nine guys and I thought we had maybe three guys really give us a solid effort,” Vickerman said.

“After having an eight-point quarter in the third where I thought we were searching a little bit offensively for something to work and we missed little chippies around the rim and that was deflating a little bit and that was disappointing that we didn’t show a resilience and we let things effect us and our body language drop a little bit.

“It turned into a fourth quarter where one team was playing really positively and one team was playing a little negatively and that was the result of the game.

“You want to continue to always have that resilience and I thought we had the first half of the year it didn’t matter when teams made a run at us, we knew and had a confidence in ourselves that we were going to find a way..

“I think we’re still sharing the basketball but there was some times where... we needed more people to take advantage of the numbers that we had and to really be aggressive.”

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