Goulding fires United to win over Breakers

Monday, October 23, 2023

Melbourne United have ridden Chris Goulding's hot hand in the second half of a 97-88 win over New Zealand.

Melbourne United captain Chris Goulding fired a series of trademark clutch three-pointers to pilot his NBL ladder leaders to a 97-88 win over the returning New Zealand Breakers.

Goulding had a quiet first half but drove daggers into a Breakers team fresh off spending the last two weeks in the United States for NBLxNBA games against the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz at John Cain Arena on Sunday when he found range after the main break.

In his 300th game for Melbourne and 414th overall in the NBL, Goulding delivered his trademark when he twice launched crucial bombs to help his team edge ahead in the dying stages of a tight contest.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Game 300 for Chris Goulding in Melbourne colours, and he's still giving us moments like this ?<br><br>Watch live & free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach & 10 Play. Sky Sport in NZ ? <a href="https://t.co/2ZZQiEhtzz">pic.twitter.com/2ZZQiEhtzz</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1715955627887849848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Goulding's fade-away from the corner gave United a game-high nine-point lead with three minutes left as he finished with 4-of-5 shooting from distance.

"We can't not talk about CG's couple of threes down the stretch," coach Dean Vickerman told reporters post-game.

"They were pretty incredible."

Jo Lual-Acuil (16 points) and NBL and NBA champion Ian Clark (18) also came up with big plays in the final period as Melbourne outscored their opponents 33-25 with the game on the line.

Lual-Acuil shone in his second game back from a long-term wrist injury, and Clark's wide-open three restored United's nine-point buffer with 38 seconds left to play.

Such was Goulding's confidence in his teammate, he turned around to celebrate the game-sealing bucket with the home crowd before Clark had even released his shot.

Melbourne had five scorers in double figures in an even team performance in the absence of injured guard Matthew Dellavedova, who has missed two games because of his latest concussion setback.

The result was Melbourne's ninth consecutive home win over New Zealand and gave them a 6-1 record for the season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shea Ili finishes the quarter with a bang ?<br><br>Watch live & free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach & 10 Play. Sky Sport in NZ ? <a href="https://t.co/REJx0TPbkz">pic.twitter.com/REJx0TPbkz</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1715935096140714196?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Breakers (1-2) led by six points midway through the third period but ran out of steam in a tough loss that ended a gruelling road trip, with them yet to return home on the back of the two weeks in the US.

Zylan Cheatham (30 points) and Parker Jackson-Cartwright (18) threatened to drive the Breakers to a rousing victory until the guard fouled out inside the last four minutes.

Anthony Lamb had 15 points and five rebounds on his NBL debut for New Zealand after signing as a replacement for injured import Justinian Jessup on the back of being part of the Golden State Warriors NBA playoff run earlier this year.

But Breakers coach Mody Maor was in no mood to look for positives in his team's performance.

"We have very high standards for how we want to play and this isn't it," Maor said.

"Lack of focus, missing key players, making mistakes on covers. I don't care where we flew from, what our schedule is, what happened the day before - I care zero.

"This isn't the level of execution that we expect from ourselves."

Shea Ili (16 points, four assists) was important for Melbourne and Luke Travers finished with 16 points, including 15 in the first half.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 4

MELBOURNE UNITED 97 (Clark 18, Goulding 16, Ili 16)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 88 (Cheatham 30, Jackson-Cartwright 18, Lamb 15)

BOX SCORE