Melbourne United star Jo Lual-Acuil refuses to play into his marquee match up with New Zealand centre Yanni Wetzell on Sunday.
He says that’s up to the media.
“You guys want to talk about the match up between me and him, but it’s between Melbourne and Breakers,” Lual-Acuil said.
“I don’t care what Yanni does as long as we get a win.”
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Consider it done, Big Jo.
Lual-Acuil is basically a lock for Most Improved Player, having almost doubled his scoring, rebounds and blocks on last season, but, with United on top of the NBL ladder, he is also in the MVP conversation.
The NBL usually defaults to Perth triple-MVP Bryce Cotton, but Wildcats teammate Vic Law and Phoenix star Mitch Creek have been balling out all season.
Sydney star Xavier Cooks has also entered the conversation as his side surges, as has Lual-Acuil in what is, all of a sudden, an open race for the title of the NBL’s best player.
Who is the 2022 NBL MVP?
Over his past four games he is No.1 in the league in scoring at a gaudy 25.3ppg, No.1 in rebounds at 13.8rpg and No.1 in blocks at 2.5bpg. Add to that a hyper-efficient 68 per cent from the field and 45 per cent from the three-point line – including three from deep against South East Melbourne on Thursday night – and you have a complete player.
His Breakers’ counterpart has produced a number of massive performances of his own, prompting South East Melbourne mentor Simon Mitchell – who coached Wetzell last season and got an up-close look at Lual-Acuil in the Throwdown on Thursday night — to say it’s a coin toss over who is the NBL’s best five-man.
High praise for two young men beginning to enter their basketball prime.
The numbers are great – four straight games of 20+, a career-high 30 on Thursday night and a ridiculous 20-20 game earlier in the month.
JLA LAST FOUR GAMES
But it is his leadership that has been even more impressive, blossoming on centre stage after teammate Jock Landale secured an NBA gig.
The 27-year-old is one of the most vocal players in the United locker room but is always at pains to deflect any plaudits for his own performances onto his teammates
“As much as the attention is going to be on me, it’s really the team, a collective, I would like that to be more of the headline instead of how well I played,” Lual-Acuil said.
In the immortal words of Mick Jagger, ‘you can’t always get what you want’, Big Jo, especially when your coach has such high praise for your work.
“Any time you reach an elite level like Jo has through this period, (the challenge is) to then keep doing it consistently,” United coach Dean Vickerman said.
“People’s coverages are going to increase on him and he’s going to see more attention and there’s going to be more focus in the scout on him, so for him to keep running through that and even seeing his numbers lift, pretty exceptional.”
JLA MOST IMPROVED?
Lual-Acuil and United are deserving of headlines, but it will be nose to the grindstone as they face a quick turnaround against the Breakers.
“They (the Breakers) had a good win in Cairns the other night and they played exceptional basketball in the first half,” Vickerman said.
“(Breakers mentor) Dan Shamir’s a hell of a coach and he has that group organised and uses the abilities that they have on that roster really well.
“Thxjmtzyweir record doesn’t indicate how talented and how good they are, we’re certainly not walking in Sunday taking it lightly at all.”
TALE OF THE TAPE
Melbourne United 10-4 (First) v New Zealand Breakers 4-9 (Last)
John Cain Arena
Watch on Kayo, ESPN, 10Peach
Past five
United: WLLWW
Breakers: WLWLW
The Stats
United
Points: Lual-Acuil, 17.57ppg
Rebounds: Lual-Acuil, 9.86rpg
Assists: M Dellavedova, 5.57apg
Blocks: Lual-Acuil, 2.79bpg
Steals: Agada, 1.5spg
Breakers
Points: Wetzell, 17.92ppg
Rebounds: Wetzell, 7.42rpg
Assists: McDowell-White, 4.08apg
Blocks: Wetzell, 1bpg
Steals: Siva 2spg
Projected starting five
United: Dellavedova, Goulding, Agada, White, Lual-Acuil
Breakers: Siva, Randle, Besson, Delany, Wetzell
Players to watch
United
Jack White
The man who never gets sick of winning. Happy to sacrifice his own game for team success. Does every bit of dirty work he can to put his side in the best place it can be. Ripped down 14 boards and cost JLA a double-double on Thursday night – and cost himself one with a missed free throw. He’ll be a menace to struggling Breakers four Finn Delany.
Breakers
Hugo Besson
One of the delights of the NBL is hearing Breakers Israeli coach say “Ooo-go” in his thick accent during time-outs. The French young gun has been held quiet in his past few but it’s hard to say if that’s a bad thing or a good thing as he is a walking bucket who can get hot very quickly. The Breakers, like Besson are very hot and cold, but their form has been solid and he will be one United has a heavy focus on stopping.
