Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman says his side is "pissed off" after import guard Ian Clark was felled by Brisbane centre Aron Baynes for the second time this season.
Clark had to leave the court for treatment midway through the fourth quarter of ladder-leading United's 93-77 win over the Bullets on Friday night after copping a high hit from the left elbow of Baynes, who was setting a hard screen for teammate Nathan Sobey.
The wiry 190cm, 79kg Clark - conceding 18cm and 39kg to 208cm, 118kg man-mountain Baynes - went immediately to ground clutching his head and was eventually helped off Brisbane's Nissan Arena by Melbourne's medical staff.
"He is feeling angry," Vickerman said of Clark.
"He's been hit by Baynesy in the pre-season, now he's been hit by that one.
"The way the screen was made, I thought there was some extra contact there from Baynesy.
"As a group, we're a little pissed off about it."
Tokyo Olympian Baynes, who played 522 NBA games from 2012-21 including a championship with the San Antonio Spurs, has rarely been out of the limelight this NBL season.
He was handed a five-match suspension for multiple offences in October, headlined by a heated half-time altercation with Cairns coach Adam Forde, described by the Taipans as "a violent assault".
Last month, Baynes was punched in the stomach by South East Melbourne's Gary Browne but the Phoenix import did not receive a ban after an early guilty plea.
Vickerman confirmed Clark will likely be available for Sunday's clash against Sydney after the American showed no concussion symptoms.
But United won't be forgetting Baynes' hit just yet.
"He took most of the contact on the shoulder, a little bit on the head," Vickerman said.
"So he's not in concussion protocols.
"We don't do too much of that, complaining about things, we like to move on pretty quickly.
"But we'll remember it."
