United Put Hammering on Hapless Kings

Melbourne United have their first win of the NBL season as Chris Goulding and Caleb Agada powered their side to a thumping 89-47 win over the Sydney Kings at John Cain Arena on Thursday night.

Agada had 14 of his 21 points in the first half while Goulding had most of his 13 points in the early going in his first game of the season showing his importance following a hamstring complaint.

United set a new NBL record for a quarter-time margin taking a 34-5 lead and it only got worse for the Kings who posted their lowest score in team history failing to pass 48 points against Cairns in 2010.

It was quite the statement performance from United who had lost their opening two matches to begin their title defence. In both those games against Sydney and South East Melbourne, Melbourne gave up big leads early and while they did fight back on both occasions, couldn’t pull off a win.

It was clearly a determined Melbourne side who wanted to start better on Thursday night to open Round 3. Not only did they deliver on that, but they put forward a history-making opening quarter and didn’t let up the rest of the way to win by 42 points.

The difference in shooting between the teams was stark. Melbourne even cooled off a little but still went at 43 per cent from the field on 34/79 and 14/36 at 38 per cent from three. In contrast, Sydney went 15/71 at 21 per cent and 5/36 at 13 per cent from three-point land.

That wasn’t the only different. United dominated the glass with 61 rebounds to 38 in an all-round demolition job.

On top of the 21 points from Agada and 13 from Goulding, Jo Lual-Acuil had 11 points and eight rebounds for Melbourne, Dave Barlow nine points and six boards, Ariel Hukporti nine points, seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks, and Matthew Dellavedova seven points, four assists and three steals.

Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said his side’s defence was strong and he was happy for Agada to find his scoring touch.

"We talked about trying to get off to a good start but I'm not sure if I've been a part of it at 26-0 start in this league," Vickerman said.

"I actually don't think we were great defensively in the first couple of minutes though. We made some errors as well. 

"So we could have got punished but our spacing on offence and having Chris and Barlow in that first group, we were good at driving, putting our feet in the paint and making good decisions.

"I’m super happy for the guy beside me [Agada]. We wanted to work on his defence and he took that on, when he showed us his defence last game we put him back in the starting line-up as we think him and Chris can really work together and they did a good job of sharing their usage and being smart basketballers."

Agada said his early layups helped his confidence but Melbourne’s defence was crucial to his early success.

"That was good to get that early one but the defence, getting stops, it just felt like everything was open," Agada said.

Everything was just simple. We were getting stops then just running our offence and everyone was taking good shots."

Xavier Cooks led the Kings with 12 points while point guard Biwali Bayles fought through the game and kept finding his way into the key despite his side’s shooting woes.

Kings coach Chase Buford promised his side wouldn’t repeat this performance.

"I’d be shocked if anybody plays as well as Melbourne did tonight," Buford said.

“They were really up for it. They were desperate, like I said, to get a win and it showed. Phoenix is a great team. We'll be ready. We're not going to lay there like this on Saturday. I promise you that."

Buford defended his side’s three-point shooting but said some shots shouldn’t have been taken.

"We had some good looks that we missed and it snowballed from there," Buford said.

"So there were good ones we should take and there were some bad ones we shouldn’t."

Bayles said the Kings had to fight harder.

"Honestly, it was pretty embarrassing. I just felt like that's not what we're about," Bayles said. 

"That's not who we are. It's difficult knowing that while we're out there that we’re getting punched and we just didn't really give anything back. So it was difficult but we just  need to flush it and get ready for Saturday."

Agada, Goulding and Dellavedova were all firing early and with each of their threes came misses from the Kings who couldn’t find a go-to offence.

The Kings were digging themselves a bigger hole on every offensive possession as Agada and Goulding led Melbourne to a 26-2 lead with 2:55 to go in the quarter as Biwali Bayles scored a lay-up but Melbourne finished with a 34-5 quarter-time lead which was the biggest margin in league history.

Makur Maker found room for a couple of baskets in the second quarter but Sydney’s shooting continued to falter as Agada, David Barlow and Goulding kept Melbourne’s tally ticking over for a 55-31 lead at half-time.

Goulding told broadcasters at half-time that "a 34-point lead is good but we can be better" and his side kept firing.

Next Star Ariel Hukporti’s one-hand slam dunk was a third-quarter highlight for Melbourne while Bayles continued to fight for the Kings but they still trailed big heading into the last quarter.

Xavier Cooks' dunk early in the last showed the Kings were looking to play out the game but they couldn’t bring down the margin and rotated players until the end of the game.

The best thing Sydney can take from this game is they will be back on court against South East Melbourne Phoenix at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday while Melbourne look to back up at home to New Zealand on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 3

MELBOURNE UNITED 89 (Agada 21, Goulding 13, Lual-Acuil 11)

SYDNEY KINGS 47 (Cooks 12, Bayles 9, Maker 8) 

BOX SCORE