Ex-NBA star injured as United thrash Bullets
Jasper Bruce |
The depleted Brisbane Bullets are hopeful Alex Ducas’s hip injury is not serious after the ex-NBA player went down during the NBL’s battlers’ 98-66 thrashing from Melbourne United.
The 25-year-old Australian wing hurt himself during Wednesday’s second quarter in Bendigo and did not return.
Ducas watched from the sidelines as the last-placed Bullets dropped a 14th game from 15 starts, with Darryl McDonald feeling conditions played a part in the injury.
“It’s hot. We need, I don’t want to call them out, but air-conditioned stadiums,” the Bullets’ interim coach said.
“We’ve got guys slipping and things like that. That’s how it happens. He slips and does his hip.
“Hopefully we have him back for Monday (against Illawarra).”
United have claimed back-to-back wins for the first time since November as they look to emerge from a slump that had threatened their post-season hopes.
Melbourne had won only three of 11 games before Wednesday but coach Dean Vickerman is now beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“When you dig a hole for yourself, sometimes you can get out of it quickly and sometimes there’s a struggle. We got in the struggle and lost some close games,” Vickerman said.
“Really it was just the intensity of defence and playing more people and playing people a little bit less and keeping the intensity of the game up and playing a little bit faster has been the real positive to come out of it.”
Tyson Walker (17 points, five assists) led the scoring for United, who have jumped Sydney into third spot on the ladder with a month left in the regular season.
They have also moved into second place on the ladder for the Ignite Cup, the NBL’s new in-season tournament.
United began the game on an 11-3 run that started with local boy Dash Daniels and ended in a tip-in dunk from Jesse Edwards, forcing a Bullets timeout.
The Bullets hurt themselves when the game was close; they missed six of their last seven field-goal attempts for the opening quarter to fall behind 10 points at the first change.
Brisbane also only hit five of 14 free-throw attempts for a first half that ended with a spectacular buzzer-beater from Walker at the half-court.
Walker’s second half-court basket from as many games put United up 21 points at the main change and effectively ended the contest.
Had Milton Doyle not bungled an audacious attempt at a trick shot to dunk in the final minutes, and Kyle Bowen not missed an early open lay-up, the win would’ve finished as United’s biggest of the season – currently 35 points.
Jacob Holt was a shining light for the Bullets against United with 23 points on nine of 10 shooting.
But the latest defeat compounded a season to forget for long-time strugglers the Bullets, who lost imports Casey Prather and Lamar Patterson to season-ending injuries earlier in the campaign.
A failed stint for fellow American Jaylen Adams and Stu Lash’s equally underwhelming cameo as head coach have also worked against the Bullets.
AAP
