United dominate Phoenix to claim Game 1

Melbourne United couldn’t have been more emphatic dominating Game 1 of their semi-final series with the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Sydney leading by as much as 33 points before winning 96-78.

Melbourne was the dominant team during the regular season finishing with a 28-8 to claim the regular season championship to be three games clear in top spot, and they showed exactly why on Friday night.

The semi-final Throwdown series will all be played at Qudos Bank Arena without crowds thanks to the lockdown in Melbourne, but the United fans watching on from their TV screens would have been in raptures with what their team delivered in three quarters.

Not only was the offence on fire with Jock Landale on his way to 26 points and Scotty Hopson 22, but defensively they stifled the Phoenix completely forcing them into 18 turnovers for the night.

A 16-0 run during the third quarter sealed the win once and for all for United before winning by 18 to claim the Game 1 in the most emphatic fashion to be one win away from another Grand Final appearance.

Not only did Landale and Hopson score 48 points between them for Melbourne, they shot a remarkably efficient 19/25 from the field and 7/9 from deep between them. As a team, United went 56 per cent from the field and 13/28 from beyond the arc.

Then there was everyone else who contributed with Chris Goulding, Shea Ili and Jo Lual-Acuil all scoring nine points, Mason Peatling eight, and David Barlow six.

United coach Dean Vickerman felt the tone was set in the opening quarter at both ends to set up what was to come.

"Us putting up 26 in the first quarter gave us good confidence about the things that we could get done," Vickerman said.

"I thought there was a really good presence about the way that we threw it into the post, I thought that the decisions we made out of the on-ball and generally the pace that we played at was good. 

"We were doing a lot of good things there and I thought in the first quarter we just put them on the line a little bit too much. We sorted that out in the second and our defence was good. 

"We had good activity, we got lots of deflections that resulted in us having them turn the ball over so I thought we stuck to our scout well. That resulted in us having a good rhythm offensively down the other end."

Ben Moore continued his good form for South East Melbourne with another 17 points while Mitch Creek finishing with 15 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals despite being limited to 25 minutes with foul trouble.

Keifer Sykes ended up with 12 points, Yanni Wetzell nine points and seven rebounds, and Kyle Adnam nine points.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell felt giving up offensive rebounds and turning the ball over were the biggest factors to find themselves down by a season-high 31 points at three quarter-time.

"Turnovers and offensive boards were the big things early in the game. We did a better job of cleaning their offensive boards up in the second half, and I thought our rebounding and competitiveness was a lot better," Mitchell said.

"But early doors, possession is king in the playoffs and they were able to get second and third touches, and grinded us down a little bit. Our turnovers, some of them were just really poor decision from an offensive standpoint dribbling into dangerous places and they were reaching in, they are athletic and long. 

"You can't give them shots and we did, and we just kept turning it over and that results in baskets going the other way. That was probably the issue early in the game but turnovers continued to be an issue throughout, but at least we cleaned up those defensive boards."

Even though the Phoenix made an early 7-0 run to lead 8-3, Melbourne quickly took over the Game 1 starting with a Sam McDaniel three-pointer.

Mason Peatling and Jock Landale then scored at will inside and with the Phoenix turning the ball over five times in the opening quarter, Melbourne led 26-20 by quarter-time with Scotty Hopson coming on to score seven quick points.

Landale then got United going to start the second with five quick points and then it became party time. Chris Goulding hit three triples during the second term, Hopson was unstoppable with two bombs of his own and Landale was on his way to 16 points for the half.

South East Melbourne had another five turnovers for the quarter and with Melbourne shooting 57 per cent from the field and hitting 9/16 from beyond the arc, they dominated to a 58-38 half-time edge.

A couple of Ryan Broekhoff threes to start the second half saw the Phoenix threaten a fightback, but it wouldn’t last.

Landale added another seven points quickly and then Melbourne dominated in remarkable fashion at both ends holding the Phoenix scoreless for more than three minutes while scoring 16 consecutive points to be up 85-54 by three quarter-time.

The Phoenix did go on to win the final quarter 24 points to 11 but it mattered little with Melbourne winning by 18 and now having the chance back at the same venue on Sunday with the chance to move straight into the Grand Final.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL FINALS 2021
SEMI FINALS GAME 1

MELBOURNE UNITED 96 (Landale 26, Hopson 22, Goulding 9, Ili 9, Lual-Acuil 9)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 78 (Moore 17, Creek 15, Sykes 12) 

BOX SCORE