United too much for shorthanded Phoenix

Melbourne United are back to their winning ways just days after Perth Wildcats ended their 11-game winning streak after a 93-82 win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday night.

United was determined to hit back from that streak breaking loss to the defending champion Wildcats on Wednesday on their home floor, but the Phoenix threw the gauntlet down to them despite being without Cam Gliddon, Ryan Broekhoff and Dane Pineau.

The Phoenix were playing to maintain their hold on a spot in the top four as well and put together an impressive opening quarter made up of 31 points as they welcomed start point guard Keifer Sykes back into the line-up.

But Melbourne worked their way on top before half-time and then controlled much of the second half to come away with the 11-point win against their crosstown rivals to maintain their hold on top position ahead of Perth.

Jock Landale scored 27 points in 23 minutes to set the pace for his side who were jumped at John Cain Arena on Wednesday and refused to let it happen again in the Throwdown against the Phoenix.

United coach Dean Vickerman said he was pleased his side had locked in a top-four spot but had more improvement to come.

"Our defence in the second and third quarter went to a higher level of communication and trust in each other and that transferred to us making some pretty good decisions at the other end," Vickerman said.

"Our turnovers led to early baskets for them in the first quarter, we need to improve in that area. Jock was fantastic, to do what he did in 22-23 minutes was great for us as we didn’t have to overload him."

Landale was unhappy with his defence in the first term so looked to give his side a lift offensively, he also added that he suffered some cramp in the last term, not a tweak to his knee injury.

"I didn’t really do anything in that first quarter except catch a couple of lobs and cherry-pick on their good plays but I was sloppy defensively," Landale said.

"I can’t do that against Perth so that is where my head is at right now. To not hold up my end of the bargain defensively is not going to work out.

"They might have had some success in the past switching against me but it didn’t work out for them and I was feeding off my teammates."

Izayah Le'Afa led the Phoenix with 17 points each while Keifer Sykes made his return from injury with eight points and five assists.

The Phoenix offence fired in the opening term taking a 31-24 lead but after that they went cold while Landale and Scotty Hopson (15 points) found their touch to take a lead into half-time which only grew bigger in the second half.

Phoenix leading scorer Mitch Creek was kept scoreless on 0/6 shooting which will be something his side will need to fix in the next match.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell said his side had been poor and needed to bring back their injured stars like Gliddon and Broekhoff. He hopes to have Broekhoff back next game.

"We were beaten by the superior team on the day, we didn’t have many answers for them in the third quarter," Mitchell said.

"I’m really disappointed in our boxing out early in the game then we would fall over and give them second-chance points. We are clearly not functioning as well as we can right now. 

"We have to bring players back in and learning to play with each other again and we haven’t had that opportunity to get those reps because of our numbers at practice.

"I thought we got our butts kicked tonight, we were humbled but I like that we ran to the finish line. We continued to compete as best we could."

Four-time Olympian David Andersen made his return to the NBL at age 40 after signing with United for the final stretch of the season an injury replacement for Jack White.

It was a move that United might have felt helped soften the blow of the Wildcats adding Will Magnay to their roster this week as the two powerhouses continue to battle over top spot to close the #NBL21 season.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 17

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 82 (Le'Afa 19, Te Rangi 17, Adnam 14)

MELBOURNE UNITED 93 (Landale 27, Hopson 15, Lual-Acuil 12) 

BOX SCORE