All on the line for Gaze, Vickerman
BASKETBALL: Andrew Gaze broke down at the tragic death of championship teammate Blair Smith and seemed resigned to his coaching fate after another bruising loss.
Dean Vickerman was powerless to explain how the most talented roster in the NBL had again thrown away all of its hard-won gains.
For Sydney coach Gaze and Melbourne United’s Vickerman, Saturday night’s latest losses were contrasting but equally miserable.
The good news for Gaze (pictured) and Vickerman, his assistant coach last year at Sydney, is that one of them has to win tonight.
Melbourne hosts Sydney at Hisense Arena with Vickerman aware his star-studded roster continues to squander its wondrous talent.
Against Cairns on Saturday night all the old problems arose, Melbourne only just getting to 70 points in a nine-point loss.
Chris Goulding (eight points, 3-for-10 shooting) fell back into his shooting funk, the bench was outscored 39-9 and the stars just failed to get it done again. As a result, United (6-6) sits fifth on the table four wins behind New Zealand and three behind Perth.
Vickerman knows his team is misfiring but hasn’t yet been able to find the cure.
“We are continuing to improve as a group but there are areas we keep taking steps backwards,” he said.
“I think we have had a couple of chances to really say where we are as a group.
“We had a chance to say we can be the third-best team in this league outright now. And we haven’t got it done.
“You don’t continue to get these chances. We have got to find a way to step up and prove that we can be a playoff contender.”
NBL scores: Breakers 96 Bullets 89, Wildcats 88 36ers 79, Kings 77 Bullets 85, Taipans 79 United 70, Hawks 80 Wildcats 85, Hawks 91 Wildcats 99.