United stay top with ninth straight win

Melbourne United rode their depth to a ninth-straight win beating the Adelaide 36ers 92-78 at John Cain Arena on Saturday night.

United was challenged for much of the game by the revitalised Sixers who had superstar Daniel Johnson playing his 300th game for the club but in the final minutes big plays from David Barlow, Mitch McCarron and Jock Landale made sure of the victory.

McCarron finished strongly to top-score with a season-high 21 points, five assists and five steals while Landale had 13 of his 19 points in the first half while adding 10 rebounds.

Jo Lual-Acuil made a huge impact finishing with 13 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in 16 minutes to help seal the deal for a United team that has now won nine consecutive matches to maintain top spot on the NBL table just ahead of the Perth Wildcats.

Chris Goulding chimed in for 13 points and three assists for Melbourne while Mason Peatling continued to show exciting signs with another 11 points, six rebounds and two steals. 

Melbourne will be hoping for more moving forward from import Scotty Hopson though. He had just one points on 0/6 shooting in his 15 minutes of court time.

Brandon Paul had 20 points for the Sixers but couldn’t find his shots in the last term as Melbourne moved away from the visitors while Johnson had 16 points and Josh Giddey added 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as he continues to chase that elusive triple-double.

The Sixers will be relieved to see Humphries get through his return match after missing more than two months with a foot injury. He played 15 minutes for two points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.  

They may have hoped for more in Crocker's return, though, who had just five points on 2/8 shooting and just looked a step off it for much of his 21 minutes.

United’s offence was sharp early as the Sixers worked returning stars Isaac Humphries and Tony Crocker back into the line-up.

But while Chris Goulding threw a flashy behind-the-back pass to Mason Peatling to move United ahead, the Sixers kept themselves in the contest by rebounding, making the most of Melbourne’s defensive lapses and finding Paul who had eight points at quarter-time as his club fell behind 28-22.

Jo Lual-Acuil was firing early in the second blocking Josh Giddey and running back the other way for a lay-up while Landale kept knocking down his shots as did Paul with United leading 48-47 at half-time.

Landale and Paul were trading NBA-calibre buckets in the third term while both coaches called time-outs to try and re-focus their defences with United up 67-63 heading into the last term.

The 37-year old Barlow came off the bench with five minutes to play knocking down a three to extend the lead and added another three and a rare dunk before McCarron had a flurry of hoops at the including a three-point play.

United coach Dean Vickerman said his side had to work to overcome Adelaide’s defence and win the game.

"I love the way we kept playing the way we wanted to play and shooting those shots and playing at a good pace," Vickerman said.

"We got our rewards at the end. Baba hit Chris Goulding with a big pass in the corner for a three at the end.

"I like the spread [of scoring] we had tonight. I like that we are not reliant on one or two guys and there is a good spread of scoring where maybe someone who is on will get more shots on the night."

Sixers coach Connor Henry said his side’s 37 per cent shooting from the field cost them any chance at the win, especially in the final minutes as Melbourne went on a 18-6 run.

Henry added that building up Humphries’ match fitness could be crucial in the coming games and there was no minutes restriction on the centre.

Henry also hasn’t given up on his side making run to the playoffs with their full squad.

"After two and a half months finally have our full squad," Henry said.

"We are not out of this thing left. We have something like 11 games left, we don’t have a whole lot of home games but sometimes you play your best basketball on the road.

"It’s not over. We can string some wins together and see who comes back to the pack and make some noise at the end of the season. There is a lot of basketball left to play."

Melbourne will be next in action at home to the New Zealand Breakers on Wednesday night and that comes after the 36ers take on those same Breakers in Launceston on Monday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 15

MELBOURNE UNITED 92 (McCarron 21, Landale 19, Lual-Acuil 13, Goulding 13)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 78 (Paul 20, Johnson 16, Giddey 14) 

BOX SCORE