Deep United too much for undermanned Snakes

Melbourne United shot the lights out and took care of business to beat the Cairns Taipans 101-76 in Sydney on Monday evening to further close in on securing the regular season championship.

Monday night was supposed to be a home game for United against the Taipans but the COVID-19 lockdown in Victoria meant that the teams played in front of no fans at Qudos Bank Arena.

However, it didn’t stop Melbourne from bouncing back from Saturday's double overtime defeat in the same venue against the Kings.

United ended up shooting 53 per cent from the field and were particularly efficient from beyond the three-point arc going 16/30 at 53 per cent including Dave Barlow going 4/4, Scotty Hopson 3/4 and Jock Landale 3/4.

The eventual 25-point win maintains Melbourne's hold on top position heading into a critical clash in Perth on Friday but it was always going to be a test for Cairns missing virtually a starting five – with Venky Jois joining Mojave King, Kouat Noi, Fabijan Krslovic and Cam Oliver on the absentee list.

It was the ideal response from Melbourne to the double overtime loss to Sydney, and coach Dean Vickerman would have been especially delighted to get such productive minutes from the bench.

Hopson put up 21 points and five assists in 26 minutes and Barlow played 15 minutes after not hitting for the floor for the Kings with 16 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.

Then there was Landale putting up 16 points and seven rebounds, Mason Peatling 12 points and 11 boards, Jo Lual-Acuil 10 points, six boards and three blocked shots, and Mitch McCarron 10 points and four assists.

United coach Dean Vickerman was delighted with the way his team handled the different challenge of facing Cairns' zone defence.

"We knew that we'd probably see the zone fairly early and thought if we could punch it inside it would create some good offence for us," Vickerman said. 

"Mason and different guys catching it at the high post made good decisions for us and that opened up the three, and short runners for us. 

"We haven’t faced much zone so we set that for a bit of a challenge for us at Shootaround to not run that many set plays, and try to use good ball movement and passing to create good offence."

It was a tough challenge for the Cairns with just the nine players available but Mirko Djeric again shot tremendously with 4/7 from three-point range with 16 points and three assists.

Tad Dufelmeier also put up 13 points and five rebounds, Majok Deng 13 points, two rebounds and two blocks, Scott Machado 10 points and three assists, Nate Jawai 10 points and six rebounds.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly wasn’t interested in excuses post-match, he just felt Melbourne were too good on the night.

"Shoot, we get to play basketball and it's been a season of ups and downs, and of getting through adversity like every team," Kelly said. 

"Then not having Mojave and Venky not coming on the trip has added to that, but it was a chance to play basketball and make your own fun out there. But they are a really good team. 

"I didn’t feel bad about having to come play the game and I don't think the boys did either, but we feel bad about how we finished the game."

Melbourne started on fire racing to an 11-2 lead and the signs were ominous for the undermanned Taipans, but they steadied thanks to Nate Jawai and Mirko Djeric immediately even though United still led 29-13 by quarter-time.

United then pushed out to a 17-point lead to start the second term with a triple from Chris Goulding, but to the credit of the Taipans they battled back starting with four points from George Blagojevic and a three ball from Scott Machado.

Development player Jordan Hunt hit a three soon after too and Mirko Djeric hit another heading towards half-time, but David Barlow nailed a couple from deep of his own to ensure Melbourne still led 55-42 at the main break.

Melbourne started the second half on fire with two quick baskets from Barlow and a three from Goulding to see the lead grow to 20, but Cairns did respond again with a triple from Jordan Ngatai.

United kept pulling away, though, and closing the third quarter with a 7-0 run saw them up 77-55 before they cruised to the 25-point win with Jo Lual-Acuil bringing up the century with a dunk just before the buzzer.

Melbourne now heads straight to Perth to prepare for their top-of-the-table clash with the Wildcats on Friday while Cairns will finish their season away to the New Zealand Breakers on Wednesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 20

MELBOURNE UNITED 101 (Landale 19, Hopson 18, Barlow 16)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 76 (Djeric 16, Deng 13, Dufelmeier 13) 

BOX SCORE