R13 Preview: Melbourne United vs Brisbane Bullets

Monday, April 12, 2021

Chris Goulding and Nathan Sobey go head-to-head as Melbourne look to extend their lead on the Hungry Jack's NBL Ladder, while Brisbane look to close in on fourth place.

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Monday 12 April

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Broadcast: ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
Brisbane 96 (Hodgson 24, Cadee 19, Sobey 17) d Melbourne 88 (Goulding 21, Landale 18, McCarron 11), Round 8, John Cain Arena

The Bullets dominated this Round 8 clash from tip-off, racing to a 14-point lead in the opening five minutes as Nathan Sobey and Vic Law combined for 11 points. That advantage reached 19 during the second term, but Jock Landale sparked a 33-14 run just before intermission, continued by Chris Goulding and finished by Jo Lual-Acuil, and in the shadows of three-quarter-time Melbourne were in front. Jason Cadee and Matt Hodgson stood tall for the Bullets, however, scoring 25 points in the final 12 minutes to seal the deal.

The now
This season seems to be a four-speed race. Melbourne and Perth neck-and-neck for first place, then Sydney, Brisbane, Illawarra and the Phoenix battling for third and fourth. Adelaide and New Zealand are fighting to stay in touch with the playoff race, while Cairns are simply trying to figure out how to win their fair share of close games.

Brisbane’s three-game losing skid hurt, but their come-from-behind win over the fourth-placed Hawks keeps them within half-a-game, a gap they can bridge with a win over United. Dean Vickerman’s men are back atop the table with six wins on the bounce, but following this run of 16-of-18 games in Victoria, some sterner road tests are on the way.

The stats

- Melbourne average 98.5ppg on 14.5 three-point makes against the Bullets, compared to 84.1ppg on 9.1 trifectas against the rest of the Hungry Jack’s NBL

- Brisbane average 96ppg at 50 per cent against United, compared to 89.9 at 44 per cent against the rest of the competition

- Melbourne have committed just 8.5 turnovers per game against the Bullets, compared to 13.5 against all other teams

- Brisbane have averaged 13.5 turnovers against United, compared to 10.9 against the rest of the league

The key men

Harry Froling – In 16 minutes against Melbourne, Froling has scored 3 points on 2 FGA. However, with the Bullets depleted, this talented enigma has become a key man. In Brisbane’s past two wins he’s averaged 21.5ppg at 52 per cent from the field and 4-of-11 from deep. In the three games between those Ws, he managed 5.7ppg at 19 per cent and 1-of-8 from distance. His all-court game has been consistent of late – averaging 8.3 rebounds, 3 o-boards and 3.5 assists in the past four outings – but the Bullets need his scoring.

Chris Goulding – It’s been a challenging year for Goulding to find consistency, but he’s enjoyed playing Brisbane. In two games he’s scored 48 points on 13-of-25 from the arc, exposing the Bullets’ lax perimeter defence at the time. Things have changed for Andrej Lemanis’ men, keeping four of their past five opponents to 43 per cent field-goal shooting or lower and 33 per cent or less from the arc. Against Melbourne they struggled to combat the inside-out threat of Goulding and Jock Landale, let’s see if they’ve found solutions.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">CG43 scored 2 three pointers last night so you get two FREE Roll'd Vietnamese Food Soldiers!<br>Download the Roll'd app, enter the code UNITED5 and pick your Soldiers!<br>Offer valid until COB Monday. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandWithUs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StandWithUs</a> <a href="https://t.co/3KpFXpwgcD">pic.twitter.com/3KpFXpwgcD</a></p>— Melbourne United (@MelbUnitedHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnitedHQ/status/1381019206062333953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The quotes

The Melbourne-Brisbane battle is shaping as one of the most entertaining season series of NBL21.

The teams first locked horns in Round 4 in Brisbane, with United undefeated and the Bullets bouncing in off back-to-back wins over Sydney and Cairns.

Nathan Sobey and Co challenged the title fancies to a shootout and the fans were the biggest winners as Melbourne edged away in the final two minutes to claim a 109-96 victory, where the teams shot a combined 51 per cent from the field and 28-of-61 from deep.

Melbourne’s star trio of Scotty Hopson, Goulding and Landale combined for 63 points, the Boomers brothers going 11-of-19 from the arc and Hopson making big plays down the stretch.

“We knew the way they pack the paint there was going to be opportunities to shoot the three-ball, and Chris and Jock made massive plays for us and stayed really confident shooting the basketball down the stretch,” coach Vickerman said.

“(Scotty) grabbed it in that second half and he looked like the Scotty Hopson that played in this league last year. He looked comfortable, hard to guard and confident, so it was nice to see him play basketball like that and have fun.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Scotty Hopson is in the zone early!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandWithUs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StandWithUs</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZGVWeMANQ0">pic.twitter.com/ZGVWeMANQ0</a></p>— Melbourne United (@MelbUnitedHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnitedHQ/status/1380826904177958914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The reality was, when the United stars got on a roll, Brisbane couldn’t stop them. And despite not making a mark on the offensive glass, the Bullets had few answers for Melbourne’s speed in transition.

“When you look at it, there are two five-minute patches. Straight after half-time when they score 16 points in five minutes, and then the last five minutes of the fourth quarter they have 21,” coach Lemanis said.

“Goulding made some plays, he did some Chris Goulding stuff, but part of that is generated by what we were doing at the offensive end, and there were times when we settled for jumpshots and they were running it down our throat.

“They had 44 points in the first eight seconds of our offence tonight, so some learnings and improvement there and again I think part of that is what we’re doing with our offence ... I thought our disruption in the backcourt wasn’t consistent enough so they were able to find a comfort level with what they wanted to run.”

Fast forward four weeks and the teams reconvened for an NBL Cup clash, and this time Brisbane’s interior defence was prepared.

After allowing 55 per cent shooting from two-point range in the first meeting, the Bullets allowed just 46 per cent and gave up a miserly 52 points from ‘ones and twos’.

“It was good fun to play in an environment with the crowd that was going like that and I thought we showed some nice poise down the stretch to be able to overcome that – got some stops, rebounded well and then offensively did a nice job of attacking the basket,” Lemanis said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Matt Hodgson took a mans SOUL on live television ? Go get your Rork Projects 'Play of the Game' and new career high in points (24) Hodgy!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WEAREBNE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WEAREBNE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/rorkprojects?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#rorkprojects</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/brisbanebullets?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#brisbanebullets</a> <a href="https://t.co/rVKkiwbGei">pic.twitter.com/rVKkiwbGei</a></p>— Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1368436594030510080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Perhaps the difference between the teams that night was Matt Hodgson, who scored 24 points at 62 per cent, including 13 in the final 12 minutes as he exposed Melbourne’s interior defence.

“He’s been playing great and I think it’s a pretty telling statistic that in games where Hodgy doesn’t play for us we’re 0-4,” Lemanis said.

“It’s nice to be able to play through him, his presence on the glass, his defensive presence to change shots, and his pick-and-roll defence, his skill in executing what we do in pick-and-roll defence, and all that has a positive influence for us.”

United put a lot of eggs in the Sobey and Law basket that night and were hurt by the supporting case, and with multiple Bullets now contributing on a regular basis, it will be telling to see what degree Sobey and Lamar Patterson are targeted on Monday night.

“We focused on (Sobey and Law) a lot on a short turnaround and they were good enough to counter that with Cadee and Hodgy, and I thought those guys made huge plays,” Vickerman said post-game in Round 8.

“I thought we defended well in the second and third quarter and the start of the fourth, but there was the second chance points they put back in, their post game was really good, and Cadee found opportunities to get open tonight, whether that be on a scramble rebound or us just overhelping a little bit and he punished us.

“They played really good basketball and credit to them.”