Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman has declared their Melbourne Cup eve clash with the Sydney Kings a great success and hopes it becomes an annual event on the NBL calendar.
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With high-profile centre Andrew Bogut playing his first NBL game in his home state since returning from the United States to join the Sydney Kings, over 10,000 fans packed into Melbourne Arena for Monday night's marquee matchup.
And while the game turned into a defensive arm-wrestle, United gave the home fans plenty to cheer about as they recorded a 77-70 win over the Kings to improve to 5-2 on the season.
"We want this to be a tradition - we want this Monday night fixture for a long time," Vickerman said.
"It was a good experiment ... it's great that the fans turned out tonight."
Many of those fans were keen to see Bogut in action, the 13-year NBA veteran enduring a tough shooting night but making his presence felt at the defensive end.
"Obviously we struggled throughout the game to finish around the rim and Bogut was certainly a factor in that one," Vickerman said.
"It took us to experiment with a small-ball group to try and shift him away from the rim a little bit."
The experiment worked wonders as versatile forwards DJ Kennedy (24 points, 10 rebounds) and David Barlow (11 points, five rebounds) made an impact at both ends of the floor.
United needed those big performances with injured guard Chris Goulding still bothered by bone bruising in his knee and Casper Ware quiet in the second half as he battled away with former league MVP Jerome Randle.
"At the start of that fourth quarter, we put the ball in DJ's hands and just let him play one-on-one," he said.
"He was really effective and he gave us a nice little margin at the start of the fourth."
Goulding's knee will be assessed ahead of Thursday night's away clash with the Illawarra Hawks.
Vickerman knows that a healthy Goulding would be a massive inclusion with United in the middle of a busy schedule.
"We don't know when we will get him back but it won't be too far away," Vickerman said of his skipper.
"It's going to be so important - these guys are pushing really hard right now and just to have a fresh body that can come in and another weapon to come in.
"Credit to these guys for the three games so far without him and to pick up those wins."
Australian Associated Press
