Defence and depth fuel United NBL streak

Dec 26, 2017 - 4:32 PM Melbourne's focus on defence and developing role players is paying dividends if their dramatic one-point NBL win over Brisbane is any indication.

The Bullets held the lead for more than 37 minutes of the traditional open-air Boxing Day clash but United thrilled the packed house at Hisense Arena by pinching a late lead and closing out the 69-68 win.

United extended their unbeaten run to four and moved within one game of league leaders New Zealand.

"We won with our defence tonight," Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said.

"If you can win three or four games a year by just locking down, and we got four or five stops at the end there to close it out.

"We still have a lot of work to do at the offensive end but we spend more time on the defence than our offence right now."

With Melbourne's starters struggling in attack, experienced centre David Andersen lifted his side with 15 points, including seven straight to open the second quarter.

"Our defence is what we are trying to pride ourselves on and I think we have shown that," Andersen said.

"Brisbane are a very tactical team and Andrej (Lemanis) does a good job making sure they are very specific about where they want to go and I thought we did a great job of stopping that."

Andersen headed a second unit that outscored Brisbane's bench 26-11 and helped keep United in touch after a rough opening quarter.

"The impact that bench had was unbelievable for us," Vickerman said.

"What we are asking for right now is contributions from everybody and they are growing in confidence as their minutes have been more consistent."

While Vickerman was pleased with the progress of inexperienced guards Kyle Adnam and Peter Hooley, he made special mention of Craig Moller after the former AFL player contributed at both ends of the floor in crucial moments of the fourth quarter.

"Moller just grew a little bit today for us," the coach said after the young forward finished with nine points, five boards and two blocked shots on Bullets import Perrin Buford.

"To hold Buford to 1-for-11 and make key stops down the stretch was pretty impressive."

New import Carrick Felix is expected to be available this Saturday for United's match-up with the Sydney Kings, the first of a five-match road swing before returning home for the Australian Open game against the Cairns Taipans.

Source: AAP