Goulding’s numbers unmatched in 40-minute era

Chris Goulding’s first 12 games of the NBL24 season have been nothing short of transcendent.

The 420-game legend has played an enormous role in leading United to a league-best 10-2 record, all while averaging his highest scoring output (18.7 points per game) since the 2013-14 season.

His play has led those following the league to insert his name into MVP consideration, which has only intensified following an enormous 35-point, eight three-pointer performance in a comeback victory over the Sydney Kings on Sunday.

As the contest drew to a close, Goulding was serenaded with ‘M-V-P’ chants from the sold-out John Cain Arena crowd.

The star acknowledged the support from the fans post-game, while also breaking down what led to his massive game.

“They put me off, I missed the free-throw,” he chuckled when talking about the MVP chants.

“When guys have good performances, I expect them to do that for Jo (Lual-Acuil Jr), for Delly (Matthew Dellavedova), for LT (Lute Travers), for anyone that has a good performance. 

“At times when I got going we were getting stops, so it translated, we were able to get out and get running a little bit, move them around and then try and exploit some things from there. The more we got stops, the more it allowed us to go down the other end with some confidence and find some stuff that we liked.

“Sometimes you make a couple (of shots) and the instinct kicks in. It’s like ‘okay, I’m going to find one here’ so there was a bit of that. Sometimes when I did that I took a couple of bad shots and had some misses, but we got some really good looks out of our stuff tonight which was pleasing.”

Goulding’s eight threes brought him up to 52 made triples on the season, 20 more than any other player in the competition.

Those 52 made three-pointers also rank second all-time in total made threes through eight rounds, equal with Shane Heal and only behind Brian Goorjian (54).

Fans will get their next opportunity to see CG43 take to the court after the ‘FIBA Break’ when United host the Cairns Taipans on 3 December from 2pm.

Get access to three Melbourne United home games in December (3 Dec, 10 Dec, 16 Dec) for a fraction of the price of single game tickets. A Blue Friday 3 Game Pass starts from just $40.00 per person.