United Overpower Taipans to Claim Regular Season Championship

Melbourne United will officially tackle their title defence as regular season champions earning home court advantage for the NBL Finals after working hard to beat the Cairns Taipans 92-80 on Monday night.

It was the last game of Round 20 at John Cain Arena on Monday and while the Taipans did their best to put up a fight while missing potentially their two most important players Scott Machado and Stephen Zimmerman, the firepower of United proved too much.

Chris Goulding knocked down six triples for the night and Matthew Dellavedova three as United turned a two-point lead early in the third quarter into an eventual 12-point victory.

The win improves United to a 20-7 record on the season to be guaranteed of first place no matter what happens in the final round. It's a second straight regular season championship as they now attempt to win back-to-back titles for the first time.

Chris Goulding had a Chris Goulding night of feeling it for United finishing with 27 points and two assists while hitting 6/11 from beyond the arc.

Matthew Dellavedova added 17 points for United, Ariel Hukporti 12 points and nine rebounds, and Jack White nine points, seven boards, four assists and two blocks.

United coach Dean Vickerman was happy with what he got out of the hit out in their second last match of the regular season.

"It was a good battle in the first quarter and Cairns came with a really good physicality, and good desperation and made us become a little bit sticky in offence early on," Vickerman said.

"They made a great run in the second and CG just put a stop to that one, and got the scoreboard ticking over. Then you look at what Shea Ili did again tonight and he was big in that patch, and was plus-26 in 24 minutes for the game. 

"There were some guys through that period that got us a good lead at half-time and I thought after that we had control of the game but they kept hanging around. 

"We did what we needed to do tonight and we played a lot of people, moved a lot of people and dealt with some foul trouble. Ariel did a really good job with Jo (Lual-Acuil) in foul trouble again tonight as well."

Ben Ayre was the story of the night for the Taipans in just his sixth appearance of the season. Up against the best defensive backcourt in the league, he put up 20 points, nine assists, four rebounds and two steals including hitting 4/8 from downtown.

Bul Kuol went 3/9 from downtown to set a new record for threes as a rookie on his way to 12 points and six rebounds with Majok Deng adding 16 points, Keanu Pinder 15 points and nine rebounds, and Tahjere McCall 10 points and three assists before fouling out early in the fourth.

Taipans coach Adam Forde couldn’t be happier firstly to have given this opportunity to Ayre, and to see how well he's grasped it.

"The reality is we would have had him in earlier in the season but at practice he and Keanu in a rebounding contest collided and it ruled Ben out for two months," Forde said. 

"We would have had Ben in the line-up earlier on and with all the injuries we've had, we would have seen him out on the floor earlier but it was great seeing him out there tonight. 

"I'm happy that he was able to get the opportunity out there in his home town and his home town was booing him, and he loves it. I'm just stoked for the opportunity Ben's been given and he's playing himself into a job."

Keanu Pinder continued his hot form to start the game well for Cairns before Matthew Dellavedova hit from deep to put Melbourne up 5-2. The Taipans had settled well and a nice drive from Bul Kuol to find Majok Deng for a corner three had them on top 9-7.

Shea Ili and Chris Goulding responded with triples for United as they claimed the lead but the Taipans stayed close with the returning Mirko Djeric nailing a trademark three ball.

Melbourne still led 19-18 by quarter-time but it was Cairns who opened the second period on fire. It started with a four-point play from Kuol before Pinder and Tahjere McCall completed a 10-0 to be up nine after just two minutes of the quarter.

Melbourne was able to steady and went on their own run of 13 straight points started off with 10 points to Goulding before Yudai Baba also hit from deep and United was up 38-32.

Ben Ayre hit a second three of the half to keep the Snakes close but Dellavedova also knocked down the three on the buzzer for United to lead 48-39 at half-time.

Goulding nailed his fourth three to open the second half but the Taipans were up for the fight still and triples to Ayre and Deng helped them score 10 straight points to get back within two before a fifth three ball from Goulding.

United were soon back up by 11 following a couple of Lual-Acuil dunks forcing Adam Forde to already use a second timeout in the half.

Three balls from Dellavedova and Lual-Acuil to close out the third term had Melbourne leading by 15 and United cruised to the 12-point win in the fourth.

There was still a couple of late highlights for the Snakes with Kuol hitting his 58th three of the season to set a new season record for a rookie in the NBL. Ayre also hit another couple of threes and had a run in with Goulding to cap his career-best night.

United will now finish their season in Hobart against the JackJumpers on Saturday night while the Taipans return home to host the Sydney Kings on Thursday and then the Brisbane Bullets also on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 20

MELBOURNE UNITED 92 (Goulding 27, Dellavedova 17, Hukporti 12)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 80 (Ayre 20, Deng 16, Pinder 15) 

BOX SCORE