Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman admits his team are in uncharted waters ahead of their first NBL finals match with Illawarra, with almost three weeks since their last competitive game.
A new post-season set-up, as well as a FIBA window for the Asian Cup qualifiers, has meant the top-seeded United have had to rely on training since their last-round match on February 18.
The Hawks, meanwhile, are battle-hardened after a Seeding Qualifier loss to Tasmania, before downing New Zealand in Monday’s Play-In game
While United troops are all fighting fit ahead of game one of the best-of-three Play-Off Series on Thursday night at John Cain Arena, Vickerman was hopeful they hadn't gone off the boil with a place in the championship series up for grabs.
"I hope not," the NBL coach of the year said.
"There's been a really good build-up, but until you actually get out there and compete at the highest level, to say 'Are we ready for it - is the simulation that we've done prepared us to go into this kind of sudden death?'
"It's a three-game series and we want to get a good start at home, which is to our advantage."
In the regular season Melbourne won 11 out of 14 matches at home, including a tense 92-87 win over the Hawks in the final round.
Vickerman expected skipper Chris Goulding to come under plenty of "aggressive" pressure after he tipped in 16 points after halftime, including two triples in the final two minutes, to help secure that win.
Import point guard Justin Robinson, who was key to Monday night's win over the Breakers, led the Illawarra scoring.
Vickerman said it was good to have a fresh picture in his mind of the Hawks, who finished the season in fourth spot.
"It's nice to have that recency with them, and we saw that they continued to peg back the game and the runs that they went on and the things that they did well to get them back in the game and how we responded," Vickerman said.
"They shot a bunch of threes against us - and probably didn't shoot it as well as they wanted to - but they're always going to play at a high pace."
