The stars who United Melbourne

While Chris Goulding has deservedly stolen headlines for his incredible 35-point performance in Melbourne’s comeback victory over fellow contenders Sydney, the United captain has once again saved special praise for a group of the team’s role players following the win.

Goulding earned Foot Locker Player of the Game honours and a Chemist Warehouse Fans MVP nomination for his season-high 35-point performance against the reigning champions, and he also became the 30^th player in NBL history to score 6,000 career points during the game.

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United found themselves trailing by as many as 19 points during the game, before a 40-point fourth quarter performance elevated the ladder leaders to a 12-point win.

“There were a couple of times there where we could have packed up and said it was too hard. We talked about sitting down and guarding at half-time and when we came out I had a three put on my head on the first possession, then there was an o-board the next one,” Goulding said.

“LT’s (Luke Travers) been out for however long and comes in and puts in a performance like that, Flynn Cameron again, I thought Tanner (Krebs) had a rough game, but did some things defensively we really needed at certain times and spaced the floor.

“Much like Flynn last week [Campbell Blogg] came in and did some really important things, so it was good to see him get some reward with an open three and a couple of lay-ups.

“We could have said it was too hard and made excuses, but credit to the guys who created great energy.”

Goulding became the first person since former Adelaide star and current South East Melbourne injury replacement Daniel Johnson to pass 6,000 NBL points, hitting the milestone in 420 career games.

The 35-year-old made his NBL debut with the Brisbane Bullets in the 2006-2007 season as a development player, on a roster that won 21 straight games en route to an NBL title.

He’s been a mainstay of Melbourne basketball since joining the Tigers in 2012, and has since won two titles and a Larry Sengstock Medal with the club.

Goulding says he isn’t taken by the individual milestone.

“I don’t know too much about the lists and how many and all that, but they put it up on the screen and I had a quick look, so I’m guessing it’s pretty good,” Goulding said.

“Part of it is a little bit of longevity but I’m not too worried about that.”

Melbourne looked a drastically different team in the second half from the first, but head coach Dean Vickerman says he didn’t change much in the half-time break. Rather, United started executing their game plan to a higher standard on both ends.

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United trailed 38-53 at the main break, but won the second half 67-40 to complete one of the best turnarounds of the season so far.

“I don’t think we stuck to our rules and did it with the aggression we saw in the second half. We didn’t change a lot in the second half, we just did it so much better, just flying around with more aggression and a greater commitment to what we were trying to do,” Vickerman said.

“We walked into the half and it was like ‘we think we can do this better’ before making changes back to zone, and then offensively as you search through the game, the switching defence was effective for them and was bogging us down a little bit so we started screening with greater effect and CG was a monster in that second half.

“Screening for (Goulding) off the basketball [worked], putting him and Jo in actions – do you switch or do you not switch? And having a better angle where it was harder for them to switch because Jo was going to open up right on the rim.

“Once we found a rhythm of how we were going to attack offensively he made tough shots and everyone supported him.”

Melbourne next plays on December 3 when it hosts Cairns.