United flex muscles to hold Phoenix to record low

Melbourne United had got back to winning the last two games but it had still been a struggle, but they sent a real message in the Throwdown on Saturday night of what they are capable with an 80-60 thumping of the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Melbourne had lost four straight games and there was questions beginning to be asked. They then fell down early against the Illawarra Hawks staring down a fifth consecutive loss. 

They turned it around in the second half before then again coming from behind to beat the New Zealand Breakers on Thursday. But the Phoenix at John Cain Arena on Saturday night was going to be a whole different challenge coming in on their own four-game winning run while regaining star point guard Keifer Sykes.

The game was still up for grabs with Melbourne only four points up at half-time, but they delivered a stunning second half at both ends of the floor and even held the Phoenix to just 23 points and to a franchise low 60 for the game.

Chris Goulding was already feeling it at half-time when he had 18 points on the board spurred on by the rare occasion of having same fans against him inside John Cain Arena. He finished the night with 25 points on 9/13 shooting from the floor and 5/9 from deep.

Jo Lual-Acuil was unstoppable at times too for 14 points on 7/9 shooting with Mitch McCarron adding 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Jack White returned successfully too getting through 16 minutes for four points and four rebounds, and a big two-handed dunk.

United coach Dean Vickerman is delighted with the way his team is now playing defence which will have flow on positive effects.

"We just held to a team to 60 points and last game it was 65 so I'm just so happy with the commitment to the defensive end right now," Vickerman said.

"Good things are going to happen at the offensive end for us and we still have pieces to add back. It was great to have Jack back tonight and we had good contributions from a lot of people. 

"Jo, with Jock (Landale) getting in foul trouble, came in and was assertive and shot the ball at a really high clip and protected the rim. I thought our rim protection overall as a team was outstanding so I was really pleased with the win."

It was a rough night for the Phoenix who were outrebounded by 11, had 14 turnovers to just 10 assists, and shot 34 per cent from the field while only getting to the foul line nine times.

Between Cam Gliddon, Kyle Adnam, Reuben Te Rangi, Yanni Wetzell, Izayah Le'afa and the returning Sykes, they shot a combined 12/44 from the field and 5/19 from three-point range.

Gliddon top-scored with 13 points but 11 of those came in the first half. Ben Moore added 12 points and seven rebounds, and Ryan Broekhoff showed more encouraging signs getting through 20 minutes for eight points.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell felt a lot of it came down to the pressure Melbourne applied, and he'll take some time to reflect on the things they can  now improve on.

"Firstly you've got to give credit to Melbourne United's pressure on the ball. They took the ball out of our point guard's hands and made other guys have to try and get us in a position to execute," Mitchell said.

"I thought we were a little slow at getting that and when we had a chance to set up in the half court and run a few guys off screens, we were OK. But we just didn’t get early looks in transition and a lot of that was down to the pressure. 

"We were also fumbly tonight and might have lacked a little bit of aggression so it just didn’t feel like we had anything that was really working for us at a high level. It's probably one where we need to cut the film up and see where we can make our improvements."

Chris Goulding and Cam Gliddon traded three balls early, then so did Reuben Te Rangi and Jock Landale. Scores were still locked until Ryan Broekhoff gave the Phoenix the 21-18 quarter-time lead on the buzzer.

It was Jo Lual-Acuil who sparked Melbourne to take over early in the second term and then Goulding knocked down two late threes and a pair of free-throws to give him 18 points in the half with United up 41-37.

It was then David Barlow, Shea Ili and Mitch McCarron who hit from deep for Melbourne to start the second half before they finished on a run of seven straight points to be up 65-50.

Keifer Sykes hit two jumpers to open the fourth quarter to give some park for the Phoenix, but Goulding hit a couple more big shots to put the margin out to 20 which is where it stayed.

Melbourne (13-5) now plays Cairns in the next three games starting at home on Friday while South East Melbourne (10-8) travel to Brisbane to face the Bullets the same night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 60 (Gliddon 13, Moore 12, Broekhoff 8)

MELBOURNE UNITED 80 (Goulding 25, Lual-Acuil 14, McCarron 12) 

BOX SCORE