United's bench always ready to produce

While Melbourne United’s Round 6 loss was a difficult one to stomach for Head Coach Dean Vickerman, one area he struggled to fault was the production of his bench.

Superstar pairing Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and Matthew Dellavedova came in as reserves to provide an instant punch, combining for 48 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Huge efforts. <a href="https://t.co/8NtbKfQTYe">pic.twitter.com/8NtbKfQTYe</a></p>&mdash; Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1721490930853941417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

This, as well as the trio of Kyle Bowen, Tanner Krebs and Flynn Cameron, impressed Vickerman, as they played expanded roles due to a number of unfortunate injuries for MU.

“We’ve had guys down the whole season so nothing really changes there. I was concerned about if the guys that logged massive minutes tonight were ready for those kinds of minutes,” he told the media after Monday night’s game.

“Jo (Lual-Acuil Jr) showed he was ready for those minutes, as for Delly (Matthew Dellavedova), that’s a huge (performance) after coming off a concussion.

“Tanner Krebs has shown he can play the four and the three so we used him a little bit there. I thought Kyle Bowen was excellent in his coverages and the way he showed and recovered and did a lot of great things there.

“Flynn Cameron stepped up in the guard area and gave us great minutes at that spot as well.”

United’s next game will be another can’t-miss affair, as they face the Phoenix in Throwdown XXII.

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