Goulding Hits 30, United Hit Back in Throwdown

Two days can be an eternity in the NBL as Melbourne United discovered, recovering from their Friday night hammering to put local rivals South East Melbourne Phoenix to the sword 110-85 at John Cain Arena on Sunday.

It was the first Throwdown for #NBL23 with an expectant crowd of 10,300 turning out with and United having plenty of work to do in a short period of time after being belted by Cairns by 25 points on the road on Friday night.

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While the first half was an arm-wrestle, the second half was a training run as United ran roughshod over a Phoenix side missing plenty of weapons.

The Phoenix were seriously undermanned, with Kyle Adnam contracting COVID on game day, Zhou Qi sustaining a calf injury at training while Ryan Broekhoff injured his hamstring in the warm up just 15 minutes before tipoff.

Having been so impressive with four straight wins at full strength, they didn’t receive any sympathy from a determined United.

Chris Goulding went off the chain with a season-high 30 points including seven three-pointers while big man Isaac Humphries overcame a slow first half to finish with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Shea Ili was electric in his cameos with 15 points, three rebounds and four assists while Xavier Rathan-Mayes and David Okwera had 13 points each.

Even young development player Zac Triplett joined the party with a late triple.

United coach Dean Vickerman said the coaching staff had an emergency meeting the day after the Cairns flogging in a bit to put together a game-plan that could beat the Phoenix.

"We probably wouldn't normally do that after a delayed flight, getting home from Cairns at 7pm at night, but we needed it," he said.

"(We needed) focus ... a focal point to get ready for today. With a short turnaround between games we went with a focus of two or three things that we thought would create an advantage and I thought we (executed) that.

"I am proud of the group, it is not an easy trip coming back from there and you could see at times they were super gassed, but they fought well."

Vickerman also reserved special praise for Goulding.

"When CG is in that mindset ... he was not only putting the ball in the hole, he was threatening with creating with his passing ability," he said.

"It opened up a lot of things for other people."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Humphries says NOPE then CG gets out on the break!<br><br>Watch live &amp; free ? 10 Peach &amp; 10play | Live on ESPN2 via Kayo &amp; Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/EtKZ6QTonq">pic.twitter.com/EtKZ6QTonq</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1589142784920866816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Import forward Alan Williams was huge for the Phoenix and did well to keep them in the game as long as he did with a gut busting 30 points and 14 rebounds.

Shrugging off his nagging foot injury, Mitch Creek had 24 points and six rebounds while Gary Browne had 16 points, four rebounds and eight assists.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell didn't mince his words when describing his side's performance, calling it "absolute trash".

"I don't know where to start. We didn't recognise the scout, we didn't execute ... horrendous," he said.

""There is no excuse for putting a performance like that out there regardless. It was more to do with the effort, it was really poor and I can't put my finger on it, we had everything to play for.

"A team coming off a bad loss, they had to travel, everything was there. That third quarter was disgusting. There will be a really long video session for that."

The Phoenix needed someone to stand up and Williams took up the challenge. He took the game to his opposite Isaac Humphries and notched up a quick-fire 12 points along with some strong defensive plays to show United any win would have to be earned.

It was end-to-end basketball played at a fast pace and the undermanned Phoenix were able to give as well as they got, going into the first break with a 31-29 lead.

The momentum quickly swung back Melbourne's way in the second quarter, though, punctuated by a spectacular shot from Goulding despite being off-balance and falling. 

Neither side was willing to ease off on the frenetic pace and it was becoming clear that it would become a battle of wills and endurance with plenty of tired bodies on the court before the half-time mark.

The Phoenix were getting plenty of points with quality penetration and floaters, while United was willing to live and die by the three-ball and Goulding was making hay.

United's response allowed them to take a 52-49 lead into the half-time break, but the Phoenix were hot on their heels.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BIG Sauce with the BIG body - Alan Williams muscling his way to 12 points early in the first quarter ?<br><br>Watch live &amp; free ? 10 Peach &amp; 10play | Live on ESPN2 via Kayo &amp; Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/tpdTF8ncay">pic.twitter.com/tpdTF8ncay</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1589129851083972610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

After a half-time talk, United exploded out of the blocks in the second half and Goulding quickly marched them out to a 13-point lead and the Phoenix were in trouble.

United surged again and late plays from David Okwera hurt while a triple in the final minute of the quarter to Rathan-Mayes was a dagger as United went into the final quarter leading 83-67.

The Phoenix were out of legs and out of fight by this point and United completed the 25-point rout in a major confidence booster.

The game was the last in the NBL before next week's FIBA window with United to return on Thursday November 17 against the Adelaide 36ers at home. The Phoenix will play in Perth later that same night against the Wildcats.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 6

MELBOURNE UNITED 110 (Goulding 30, Humphries 20, Ili 15)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 85 (Williams 30, Creek 24, Browne 16) 

BOX SCORE