United had their six-game winning streak broken on Friday night in Cairns, losing 93-86 to the Taipans.

Melbourne's previous loss was also against Cairns, way back on October 28.

"There were two areas in the game tonight that we weren't good enough," Vickerman said post-match.

"That was defending (Cairns') penetration and the ability for them to get to the rim, and our inability to get to the foul line.

"We've been top-two in the league all season in free throw attempts and for whatever reason, we probably didn't attack the rim enough.

"We didn't get calls going to the rim, we didn't get our share of free throws tonight and that was a big part of the game."

United must turn things around quickly if they are to bounce back against the ladder-leading Sydney Kings.

Melbourne leaves Cairns for the harbour city on Saturday before an expected sold-out clash at Qudos Bank Arena tomorrow.

"Right now we're the only team that's beaten them. They haven't lost a game at home and they've just recruited another guy (Xavier Cooks) as well," Vickerman said of the challenge.

The coach said Friday night's loss in Cairns would be put behind them quickly, with just a focus on improvement.

"You look at it and say we have six turnovers and make 11 threes, you know, some of the things we normally do, but it's just the rebounding and the free-throws that were the big difference tonight," he said.

United lost the rebound count 50-39 and went to the charity stripe just 15 times compared to the Taipans' 28.

"They were desperate on the boards tonight, absolutely desperate," Vickerman said.

"There were a lot of contests that 'who's going to come up with some 50/50 contests', I thought they won all those battles. "They are doing some really good things."

Australian Associated Press