This was published 9 years ago
Melbourne United out to atone for horror show against Wollongong Hawks
By Roy Ward
There's an old phrase in basketball circles: "The video don't lie."
Melbourne United players felt the pain of those words this week when interim coach Darryl McDonald screened their "debacle" loss against Townsville Crocs from last Sunday.
Hot happy: Darryl McDonald.Credit: Getty Images
What McDonald and his men saw was a team playing without its offence, taking too many "hero" shots and lacking conviction.
With six matches to go in the NBL season, fifth-placed United still have a strong chance of making the post-season, but only if they fix the problems from last round and regain their edge.
United (11-11 win-loss) get the chance to redeem themselves when they visit bottom-placed Wollongong Hawks (3-19) at WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong on Friday.
McDonald says the one sure way to qualify for the finals is to win all six games, especially as the NBL keeps throwing up unpredictable results.
He said his team's training intensity went up remarkably after they watched the Crocs replay, and he knows that energy has to flow into the game.
"After I showed these guys on video, I think it hit home," McDonald said. "We have six games left and I believe we need to win them all. The way the league is, you don't know who is going to win, you couldn't bet on nobody.
"The one thing you can control is to come out and play hard for all 40 minutes."
Athletic forward Lucas Walker will again miss for United, but there is a silver lining to his shoulder injury, as it will see him out for only two to three weeks and not the season, as initially feared.
Walker is slated to return for either the final round of the season or the penultimate round.
The Hawks are out of the finals race but they have found better form in recent weeks, especially at home, with emerging forward Tim Coenraad scoring 20 points last round and imports Gary Ervin and Jahii Carson always a threat.
McDonald believes the Hawks' biggest threat is their mindset, as they do not have the pressure of being in the finals race.
"Every team we play now wants to give us a loss. I would be the same if I was in that position," McDonald said. "Those teams can just flow, play with no pressure, and that makes them very dangerous.
"But once our guys saw themselves on video, they were blown away and training was up for the rest of the week.
"We can't take our opposition for granted, we don't have that luxury. We have got to be switched on because every possession counts."
United play Wollongong on Friday night, with One showing the game on delay at 10.30pm and NBL.TV streaming it live.