Statement United Home Win Over Breakers

Melbourne United flexed all their muscles in emphatic fashion to retain top position in the NBL delivering a hurting on the New Zealand Breakers at John Cain Arena on Sunday, winning 108-73.

United were fresh off a hard earned Throwdown victory over the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday, but the Breakers too were coming off a win up in Cairns to breathe some life back into their #NBL22 campaign.

It didn’t take too long on Sunday afternoon for Melbourne to put their foot on New Zealand's throat. They up 30 points in the opening term to lead by 10 and in the blink of an eye to open the second quarter, the lead was out to 20.

It grew to 27 by half-time, 40 by three quarter-time and United cruised to the 35-point win to improve to 11-4 on the season to retain top spot while the Breakers slip to 4-10.

It was quite the dominant performance by Melbourne shooting 52 per cent from the field and 46 per cent from downtown opposed to 41 and 34 for New Zealand.

United also dominated the glass with 43 rebounds to 31, including 18 second chance points to six while scoring 20 points from the 15 New Zealand turnovers.

It was a win by committee for Melbourne with 13 players all spending at least five minutes on the court, with 12 of them managing to score with Caleb Agada leading the way with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Shea Ili put up 15 points and five assists, Jack White 14 points and six rebounds, Chris Goulding 12 points, Jo Lual-Acuil 11 points, Ariel Hukporti 11 points and three blocks, and Mason Peatling 10 points and four rebounds.

United coach Dean Vickerman was especially happy to be able to give a good run to all 13 players.

"This was kind of the last of three games for us in a week and we just wanted to finish it off," Vickerman said.

"We hoped it was a game where we could move people a little bit more and reward some of the players that have been practicing hard and not seeing much reward on the floor. 

"It was fantastic for all our young guys to get them good minutes and somewhere down the track those minutes are going to be really important to key moments in the end of the year."

Peyton Siva and Hugo Besson put up 17 points apiece for the Breakers while Chasson Randle had 11. Yanni Wetzell, though, had just five points and two rebounds on five shots.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir wasn’t making any excuses afterwards.

"You lose a game by 35 and there's not really a lot to say besides some cliches that I don’t really like," Shamir said.

"First of all, hats off to United and they are showing why they are in the first place and we are not. They defend, they share the ball and finished with seven people in double-figures. 

"Obviously it wasn’t a good day for us on a lot of fronts, and levels. But I think we are better than that and that's definitely what my feeling is. We showed up today and got punched hard, but I think we ae better than that."

The challenge was always going to be a significant one for the Breakers but they did start well, and following a 7-0 run thanks to Yanni Wetzell and Hugo Besson, they led 12-9.

Melbourne responded, though, and it started with back-to-back triples from Jo Lual-Acuil and Chris Goulding. It turned into 12 straight points to turn a three-point deficit into a nine-point lead.

By quarter-time, United had opened up a 30-20 advantage which grew quickly when they put up the opening 10 points of the second period. It started with a three-point play from Lual-Acuil before a three-point bomb from David Barlow and they were soon up 40-20.

It continued to blow out leading into half-time with Melbourne going into the break up 60-33. Caleb Agada led the way with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists but nine United players scored and they were going at 56 per cent from the floor and 43 per cent from downtown.

The rebounding numbers were also a concern for New Zealand with United collecting 22 boards to 12, and six offensive rebounds to one while the Breakers also coughed up eight turnovers for 13 points.

It didn’t change in the third term either with Jack White hitting an early three for Melbourne. Chris Goulding then delivered another from the carpark and when United closed the third quarter with the last 11 points, the lead ballooned to 84-44.

Both teams were just playing out the final 10 minutes but the Breakers did at least knock down some threes including two apiece to Rasmus Bach and Peyton Siva, and tried to bring respectability back to the scoreboard for the final margin of 35.

Both teams have a handy break before playing again with Melbourne up against the Cairns Taipans in the Far North next Sunday. The Breakers don't play again until next Tuesday when they face the Illawarra Hawks in Hobart.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 12

MELBOURNE UNITED 108 (Agada 17, White 14, Goulding 12)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 73 (Besson 17, Siva 17, Randle 11)

BOX SCORE