Defending NBL champions Melbourne United have their sights set on earning home-court advantage for the upcoming playoffs after an impressive team performance against the Illawarra Hawks.
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With the battle for semi-final places set to intensify over the final month of the regular season, United showed they were up for the fight after demolishing the Hawks in the Australian Open game at Melbourne Arena.
United's import centre Josh Boone felt that Wednesday night's 113-89 victory was a huge result for the club as they set themselves for a shot at back-to-back titles.
"At this point, every game is important because this ladder is so close right now," Boone said.
"Even if you are one of the top two teams, if you slip up one time you can find yourself looking at third or fourth place or potentially out."
United moved back into top spot with a 13-8 record after beating the Hawks but only sit one win ahead of fourth-placed Brisbane Bullets (12-9) while their next opponent Adelaide (12-10) is also in the thick of the finals race.
"Obviously, we are taking this one game at a time but every game is massive and we are looking at trying to get one of these top two seeds," Boone said.
"It's something that we talked about earlier this morning in shootaround - not only do we want to make the playoffs but we want to have home-court advantage as well."
Boone finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds while six of his teammates also scored in double figures, Casper Ware bouncing back from his crucial late miss in their overtime loss in Perth to lead all scorers with 25 points.
DJ Kennedy and Mitch McCarron each scored 17 points with Kennedy adding 13 boards as Melbourne outrebounded Illawarra 50-36.
Boone credited the team's collective mindset to keep pushing the pace for their 28-point lead after three quarters, knowing that victory by a large margin will boost their chances for claiming top spot.
"Not only do we need wins but if there's a tie on the ladder, it goes by points so we need that points spread," Boone said.
"Right now, we are a little bit behind on that spread with those top couple of teams so we know that every point is going to matter right now."
Australian Associated Press