Chance sets the bar after United's costly lapse

Injuries, a lack of continuity and a roster carrying nine new faces. There are plenty of reasons Melbourne United has been slow out of the blocks.

None of them were what was eating at coach Jacob Chance on Saturday night.

It's the non-negotiables: the effort, the physicality, the urgency that upset him most. Against Cairns at John Cain Arena, United let all three slip at the worst possible moment.

"We lost the game in five minutes," Chance said post-game.

"I think it was we're up 12 with two or so minutes left in the third. They [the Taipans] call a timeout. I think it was minus-14 between then and two minutes into the fourth quarter. So momentum is a nasty thing in sport. We were riding it. We didn't do a good job of just steadying down and being solid when we needed to."

Cairns went on to pile up 35 points in the last quarter, 14 of them from Jaylon Brown, in a commanding finish for the visitors.

Chance was blunt about where it went wrong.

"We just weren't good enough for long enough. We didn't play hard enough. We weren't physical enough. We didn't contest enough," he said.

"We were doing that in that stretch. It gave us a 12-point lead. And it's just a good reminder in this League, you can play anyone on any night, anywhere. You take the foot off the gas for a minute and lose momentum. It's a hard thing to get back."

While Chance was full of praise for his team in a close-fought loss to Tasmania on Thursday, he wasn't as complimentary this time around.

"We weren't up to standard tonight," he said.

"Those are standards that we set for ourselves … we need to go back to that and find out what happened in that little stretch there at the end of the third and start of the fourth."

It's not what you'd expect from a group this experienced. Time together on court has been limited, but United's roster is loaded with seasoned professionals who have played at the highest levels around the world.

"The urgency was okay in the first half, but yeah, when it was winning time to give up 35 in the fourth quarter. That's the disappointing part," Chance said.

"But the process and the urgency is the most disappointing thing. So to come back on Monday and get ready to work."

Still, Chance isn't hitting the panic button on a 1-3 start.

"No concerns ... this is part of growing pains of a new team," he said.

"You know, progress is nonlinear. It doesn't go like this as much as we would like it to."

Melbourne's loss certainly wasn't for a lack of firepower. Cole Anthony poured in 40 points on 11/26 shooting and 16/17 from the foul line, while Malith Machar added 14 points in 14 minutes on 3/4 from deep. Josh Oduro had 11 points and 11 rebounds, Luke Travers 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists, and Joe Ingles eight points and four rebounds.

For all his frustration with United, Chance had plenty of respect for the opposition. Cairns' slow start had piled the pressure on coach Adam Forde, but this was a performance that will have silenced plenty of critics, for now at least.

Four Cairns players reached 20 points: Keanu Pinder (27), Reyne Smith (21), Jaylon Brown (20) and Jack McVeigh (20).

"This League's talented. I mean, I know externally you guys have been on Cairns for the last couple of weeks, and a good friend of mine, Fordey, but it's a talented team," Chance said.

"Jack McVeigh is an Olympian. Keanu's been in Boomers squads, played overseas. Like Reyne Smith's a great little player.

"Credit to Cairns. They took full advantage and that's Cairns … as long as they've been with Forde, that's how they play. They ride the wave a little bit and, you know, they took advantage of the momentum in the game."

Melbourne heads to Adelaide to face the 36ers in an Ignite Cup matchup on Wednesday night.