Vickerman makes changes to send out strong message
MELBOURNE United coach Dean Vickerman isn’t afraid to change things up, even if that means benching his two biggest stars coming out of halftime.
Boomers centre Jock Landale an and veteran sharpshooter Chris of Goulding the third watched quarter Go on of at United’s the start win against the Adelaide 36ers.
The move turned out to be a tactical masterstroke, United turning a two-point deficit at halftime into a 24-point thumping of the 36ers at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, winning easily 89-65 on Friday night.
“With this group, I really want to get to a point where everybody accepts a role and if you start the game, it doesn’t mean you’re going to start at halftime or start the fourth quarter,” Vickerman said. “I wanted to send a message to the whole group.
“There’s going to be groups that we’re going to put out on the floor that are going to be highlevel defensively and they’re going to wear some teams out, and then you bring in a Chris and a Jock. That can be quite deflating to another team if they see those guys coming on after having to work so hard against a real defensive group.”
United shared the scoring load during the clash with five players in double figures.
Goulding and back-up centre Jo Lual-Acuil equal top-scored with 16 points, Tall Blacks guard Shea Ili chipped in with 13, and Landale and Japanese recruit Yudai Baba (10 points each) provided valuable contributions.
While United has time to rest before its next game on January 25, in Cairns against the Taipans, there’s no such luxury for the 36ers, who are back in action when they host South East Melbourne Phoenix today.
The 36ers will be hoping to get more production out of imports Donald Sloan and Tony Crocker, who went a combined 3-16 from the field.