NBL22 Match Recap: Round 7, Game 1 v New Zealand Breakers

Melbourne United have notched their fifth consecutive win after dominating the New Zealand Breakers on the interior in Tasmania.

The excitement within the United group was clear in the lead up to tip-off as Jack White entered the starting lineup for the first time since Round 12 of NBL21.

His impact was immediately felt, as he recorded a block that led to United’s opening basket of the game, an easy layup from Jo Lual-Acuil Jnr.

That defensive energy carried over for much of the quarter, as United limited New Zealand’s opportunities and made the most of their bench minutes.

Shea Ili scored four quick points, as well as feeding Ariel Hukporti on a massive alley-oop slam.

Despite this, some hot shooting from the Breakers and costly turnovers from United meant the defending champs found themselves trailing going into the first break, 22-21.

The second term played out similarly, as neither team proved able to pull away from the other.

Usually acting as Melbourne’s main distributor, Matthew Dellavedova stepped up in the scoring department during the quarter.

Delly opened the period with a nice three-pointer, before using an array of floaters and layups to finish with nine points going into the main break.

This, combined with some strong defence, which included a monster rejection from Mason Peatling on Hugo Besson, kept Melbourne within reach of the Breakers, who threatened to go on a run.

These efforts weren’t enough to give United the lead however, as NZ held onto its one-point advantage to close the term.

Coming out of the half-time break, it was like the channel had been changed to the JLA show, as the big man brutalised the Breakers interior.

Jo scored 8 points in quick fashion to help United keep up with NZ’s three-point barrage, before some great hustle from Melbourne resulted in a Caleb Agada triple, giving the visitors the lead.

Once in front, United never looked back, building momentum across the remainder of the term to take a 65-60 lead into the final 10 minutes.

With so much attention being paid to JLA (22 points, 12 rebounds), opportunities opened up for Melbourne Captain Chris Goulding, who reached the major milestone of 5000 career points early in the fourth.

Not content with simply reaching the mark, CG43 (23 points) continued moving beyond 5000, knocking down a pair of huge three-pointers to help United lead by as many as 15 points.

The Breakers would however not go down quietly, fighting back to reduce the deficit to six points.

With the game very much up for grabs, it came down to a number of hustle plays from the likes of Peatling and Brad Newley to secure the victory.

Both came up with key offensive rebounds down the stretch, something Peatling had been doing all night (12 rebounds, six offensive in 18 minutes).

With the glass locked down and some great defence in the final minutes, Melbourne ran away with the victory.

United’s next game will come on Sunday afternoon on the road against the Illawarra Hawks.