Melbourne United veteran Dave Andersen has avoided surgery with scans showing no structural damage to his injured left knee.
The club said on Monday that Andersen had a grade 2-3 medial ligament strain and although initial fears were Andersen may be out for the entire season, now it seems he should be back on the court within 6 weeks.
The Melbourne forward suffered the injury early in Friday night’s NBL nail-biting loss to the Perth Wildcats
If the recovery time is correct this should see him return to action the week prior to United’s next clash with the Sydney Kings on February 3rd.
United had a mixed weekend – after losing to the Wildcats at home, they enjoyed an upset road win on Sunday over league leaders Sydney.
United’s version of the “Splash Brothers”, Chris Goulding and Casper Ware were unstoppable as last-placed Melbourne United delivered a 88-81 upset of NBL leaders Sydney at Qudos Bank Arena yesterday.
Melbourne led at every change of the round-11 clash, setting up victory with a dominant third- quarter performance after being ahead by two at halftime. Boomers star Goulding poured in 28 points, while Ware tallied 23 points and eight assists.
“A couple of wins or a couple of losses and you can slide like it’s snakes and ladders,” Goulding said. “The way this league is, it’s crazy.”
Kevin Lisch had 24 points for Sydney and Brad Newley added 22. The Kings remain on top of the table with a 10-7 record.
Melbourne’s record stands at 7-8 in the closest season since the NBL’s 1979 inception.
Sunday’s win meant United climbed off the bottom of the NBL ladder.
Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.
