Melbourne United withstand plucky 36ers

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Melbourne an 11-point win over the Adelaide 36ers, but the NBL ladder-leaders were made to work.

NBL heavyweights Melbourne United have survived a scare from the plucky Adelaide 36ers and sealed a hard-fought 107-96 win at John Cain Arena.

In a true team performance, seven United players reached double figures for points with the side's willingness to shoot from deep proving the difference.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Defence ?? Offence<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/TwCoiQoAn8">pic.twitter.com/TwCoiQoAn8</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1735971740142972971?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

United could finish the weekend as many as four wins clear atop the ladder. For comparison, only three wins separate second and seventh on the ladder as of Saturday night.

When Tanner Krebs hit three triples in just more than a minute in the second quarter, everything was going to script for the championship favourites, who took a 13-point lead into the half.

But Adelaide fought back, with DJ Vasiljevic (23 points, six assists) and Jacob Wiley (14 points, nine rebounds) combining to inspire a 13-0 run that straddled three quarter-time.

Their efforts cut United's lead, which had ballooned to as many as 18 points, to only four in the final term.

Vasiljevic had 10 of Adelaide's first 15 points for the fourth quarter, so when he went down with a severe calf cramp in the final three minutes, the Sixers would have been nervous.

The guard's pain was so intense that a member of the crowd rushed from his court-side seat to help him before a Sixers staffer could make it onto the court.

Adelaide had been behind by only four points when Vasiljevic pulled up sore but by the time he returned to play a minute later, United had seized all momentum and extended the lead to nine.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DJ is unfazed by the defence or the distance ?‍?<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/XyTQrgu2gF">pic.twitter.com/XyTQrgu2gF</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1735973235186073946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

They did not surrender their advantage from there, with guard Shea Ili finishing as the side's top-scorer (16 points, two assists).

United hit 16 three-pointers from 32 attempts for the night - a statistic that proved decisive. The Sixers made 9-of-14 shots from deep but only attempted four for the entire first half.

Melbourne have now hit 100 points in five consecutive games - the first time an NBL team has done so since the 2008/09 season.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

MELBOURNE UNITED 107 (Ili 16, Goulding 15, Lual-Acuil 15)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 96 (Vasiljevic 23, Kell III 22, Humpries 16)

BOX SCORE