Lee a ‘perfect fit’ for United says Dmack

Written by Melbourne United Media 

In his first game in front of Melbourne United’s home fans, American big-man Marcus Lee showed exactly why he was brought into the team.

The former Kentucky center made an impact whenever he was on the court, finishing the game as the only player in the NBL this season to tally 10 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks in less than 18 minutes.

Speaking to MU Media after the game, Lee said he was energised by the United faithful’s passion and is excited to continue growing with his new teammates.

“It was an amazing energy, I felt it as soon as I walked into the arena,” he said.

“It gives you so much energy and juice to fight for the people that are in the building and that work so hard for us.

“It’s great to show the fans why I was brought in here and it’s good to see that our team is starting to gel and figure each other out.

“That (performance) was only after a week (together), so give us a couple more weeks and we’re going to be dangerous.”

Lee’s strong performance earned him high praise from Assistant Coach Darryl ‘Dmack’ McDonald, who said the athletic big-man is delivering on all expectations.

“He was exactly what we wanted,” Dmack continued.

“Defensively he’s solid, he rebounded well, he was 5-5 from the field, so to have 10 points and eight rebounds in the minutes he played is what we needed.”

Lee’s defence, which was on full display in the third quarter when he blocked Rashard Kelly at the rim before switching onto Jack McVeigh and blocking his shot on the three-point line, is a primary reason why McDonald is confident the best is yet to come when looking towards the second half of the season.

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“Defensively he was really good, that was one of the main reasons we brought him in, he blocks shots , he has active hands… for what we wanted, he’s going to be the perfect fit for us.

“After a week, he showed that he’s pretty smart, he picked the offence up pretty easily, and down the line he’s going to be really good for us.”

United fans will next get their chance to secure a pair of victories in Round 9, as Melbourne play a pair of road games against the SEM Phoenix and Illawarra Hawks.

MU will face the Phoenix in Throwdown XIX, delivered by DoorDash on Saturday 3 December from 8pm before travelling to Illawarra for a meeting with the Hawks on Monday 5 December at 7:30pm.

Both games will be streamed live on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel.