Melbourne showed they could win and win well away from home this NBL season, but they weren't quite the same team in Perth where the grand final series against the Wildcats kicks off on Friday night.
The defending champions split their season series against the Wildcats 2-2 with both losses coming at Perth's RAC Arena.
Home court advantage could prove a huge factor for Trevor Gleeson's side in the five-game series after they finished on top of the ladder ... ahead of United by percentage only.
Melbourne centre Josh Boone was frank in his assessment of what his team needs to improve in order to kick the series off with a win.
"It's kind of everything," Boone told reporters on Tuesday.
"When we look at the stats we don't shoot the ball nearly as well over there.
"We foul a lot more too. The foul discrepancy (for us) in games here and there is really the thing that stood out to me.
"We need to really focus on playing defence without fouling and keeping everybody on the court.
"I think it's just about discipline."
United returned to the grand final series with a clean semi-final series sweep of Sydney, defeating the Kings 90-76 in game two in front of a large and vocal Qudos Bank Arena crowd on Sunday.
Boone knows they can expect nothing less from the Wildcats faithful.
"We're used to going to hostile environments," he said.
"We just played in front of over 14,000 people in Sydney and we've played in front of the crowd in Perth and we know they're going to be out in force and loud.
"But we kind of live for those games ... we feed off that atmosphere."
United will host Perth at Melbourne Arena in game two on Sunday, March 10.
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