Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman is hoping his squad can ride the momentum from Wednesday's win over the Perth Wildcats all the way to an NBL semi-final berth.
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Last season's grand finalists came into the annual Australian Open game having lost five of their past six games to tumble out of the top four.
But under the open roof at Melbourne Arena, United outscored the Wildcats 26-13 in the opening quarter to set up the 10-point win and keep their quest for a third successive grand final appearance alive.
On a night where the league paid tribute to the late Kobe Bryant, Vickerman took pride in the way his players channelled their emotions in such a vital game.
"We wanted to be the first team to honour him in the NBL and I hope we did a good job as a club tonight," Vickerman said after 77-67 win.
"Our players all wore their little black bands and wrote different things on those to honour him.
"I know (injured import) Casey Prather wore his Lakers jersey around all day at home but still wanted to do the right thing and wear his Melbourne United top today.
"But yeah, it's impacted everybody and I'm sure it will for a long time."
The team spoke about at length about the LA Lakers legend at a meeting earlier in the week, including two-time Olympian David Barlow who faced Bryant and Team USA at the Beijing and London events.
"I think he played three games against (Bryant) and had the opportunity to sit with him at the village and have conversations so there was a real connection there," Vickerman said about Barlow experiences.
The result sees United improve to a 12-12 win-loss record, with their hot-and-cold performances over the course of the season making life difficult for the coach.
"This team is one of the craziest teams I've ever coached in terms of highs and lows," Vickerman said.
"So if we can turn this win into a high ... hopefully, we just take a lot of confidence from some of the defence that we played today then look at the first quarter offensively and can we repeat some of those for the rest of the year."
Vickerman is under no illusions of the importance on Saturday's away clash with fourth-placed Brisbane, labelling it as "a massive game" in the race for the finals.
"I think whoever is able to win that one really puts themselves a step ahead to gain fourth spot," he said.
"Certainly the games that both teams have got left are against similar quality teams to close out the year so it's a huge game for us."
Australian Associated Press
