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HAVING experienced first-hand what a home crowd can be worth - or a hostile road crowd - United captain Chris Goulding and Melbourne legend Mark Bradtke have their own reasons for craving a sell-out tomorrow night at Hisense Arena.

Apart from the fact the winners of Game 1s of any Grand Final Series have continued on to win 88 per cent of NBL championships, crowd influence is massive.

United coach Dean Vickerman hit Twitter early today to exhort more United fans to attend tomorrow's series opener against the Adelaide 36ers, Melbourne's crowd suffering the fact junior basketball is on throughout the city and state tomorrow.

Now it's time for those United fans who might be new to the game to appreciate what they can add to their team's first championship quest.

The last time Melbourne was in the playoffs it was still as the Tigers on April 1, 2014 when they faced Joey Wright's 36ers at Adelaide's Titanium Security Arena in Game 3 of the semi finals.

Goulding was targeted by the home crowd and subjected to relentless fan derision, perceived as some sort of "villain of the piece" after Sixers import Gary Ervin was rubbed out of the game, having been found guilty of trying to knee him in the crown jewels during Game 2.

The crowd early gave Goulding some benefit of the doubt but after he and Anthony Petrie clashed ahead of a time-out, it really revved up.

The big screen replay in the venue revealed Goulding had exaggerated the contact and that was all it took for the 4,024 in attendance to go from passive aggressive to full-on riot.

Goulding was effectively diminished as a factor in the contest, a match the 36ers won 102-63 to advance to the Grand Final.

Melbourne evolved to United later that year, Goulding playing professionally in Spain at the time but aware the name and culture shift had caused some measure of controversy across Victoria.

“Not that we need validation but it would provide validation for the Melbourne United faithful,” Goulding said of winning this championship.

“Of course there were some naysayers and doubters but (with) our fan engagement, the fans we have at the game is better than ever before.”

It will need to be tomorrow because the 36ers' fans are laying in wait for Game 2 on Sunday at Titanium Security Arena, which still was the Clipsal Powerhouse when a sell-out capacity crowd booed Bradtke into submission in an Adelaide-Melbourne fixture.

Bradtke had opened his NBL career with his hometown 36ers and played 118 games for the club before being released from his contract to play pro in Spain after the 1992 Olympic Games.

The Hall of Famer played 554 NBL games but No.118 for the 36ers - his last - stands as his career best statistical performance, the 208cm centre scoring 43 points and grabbing 25 rebounds against a shellshocked Geelong Supercats.

The fans farewelled him as a conquering hero, so when he returned to the NBL and opted to play for Melbourne, he overnight rocketed to top of the villain charts in SA.

The boos rained down even as the Tigers emerged from the changerooms for the start of the pre-game warm-ups, and they never relented. If anything, the jeers and derision just rose in intensity.

It was a hellish return as the fans bombarded Bradtke with venom. Jeered relentlessly, hounded and booed every time he touched the ball, his only respite was a rousing cheer across the venue after he shot an airball.

MARKED MAN: Mark Bradtke takes on 36ers' import David Robinson in that fateful game.

“The place went absolutely crazy,” 36ers icon Brett Maher said. “That was the worst anybody has ever copped it in that building, before or since.

“I mean, Mark is such a terrific bloke but you sure wouldn’t have wanted to be him that day.”

Home fans carried the day, without question, Adelaide winning even though it mostly made up the numbers in 1993, while Melbourne continued on to win its first NBL championship.

As any barometer of fan noise though, that became the bench-Mark for Adelaide.

It helped the 36ers win, just as the relentless efforts of the fans across Game 1 of the semi final series against Perth Wildcats rocked the Arena to its foundations.

PHENOMENAL FANS: The fans drove the 36ers, and Nathan Sobey, home in Game 1 with Perth 

The fans played their role as Adelaide delivered a 35-point win, before the Sixers enjoyed the other flip of that coin on the road.

Nothing beats silencing a big crowd, so eliminating the Wildcats 2-0 after only taking the lead with 24.7 seconds left to stun 13,000-plus members of the Red Army also creates a high.

Melbourne secured a similar feat, beating New Zealand 2-0 and completing the semi final sweep in Auckland, in overtime.

“That second game in New Zealand was probably the most physical game I’ve been a part of or that I can remember,” Goulding said.

Goulding is in pursuit of his first championship. Bradtke won two with Melbourne before joining Sixers coach Joey Wright in Brisbane to claim a third title, this time with the Bullets.

Both know only too well the value of the home crowd and how much of "home court advantage" is actually about just that - the roar of the faithful.

United fans need to fill Hisense Arena tomorrow.

Sixers fans sure know how to do it.

Read: Crowds are loud in the city of churches, here.