United win again out west to lock in top spot

Top spot and home court advantage right throughout the finals is now officially Melbourne United's after they dominated the Perth Wildcats for a 78-64 win at RAC Arena on Friday night.

First place has been Melbourne's for most of the #NBL21 season and they confirmed that they will claim the regular season championship by proving too good for a Perth team minus their starting back court of Mitch Norton and Bryce Cotton on Friday night.

The Wildcats would have kept the battle for first place alive if they could have won their final regular season game, and they did start well enough scoring the opening five points of the contest.

However, it was all Melbourne from then on as they took advantage of the Wildcats missing their superstar MVP but also their main playmaker and best defender to win by 14 points.

The win improves Melbourne to 27-8 record on the season and also means they have won both trips to Perth meaning they will hold no fears coming west should the two teams end up in the Grand Final.

United will finish their regular season in Adelaide on Sunday but they can't lose top spot while Perth's regular season is over and they finish in second position at 25-11 as they prepare for a 35th consecutive finals appearance.

Once again the full array of United's depth was fully on display as they had nine players scoring and no one needing more than the 16 points from Jo Lual-Acuil who hit 6/8 from the field.

Jock Landale had the better of his match up John Mooney too with 14 points and five rebounds while Mitch McCarron had a tremendous all-round performance with 11 points, six boards, five assists and two steals.

Dave Barlow hit three triples for nine points with Sam McDaniel adding seven points, Chris Goulding six, Yudai Baba six and Scotty Hopson six.

Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman took the chance of securing top spot to reflect on what everyone in the league has been with this year, and for his team take the regular season championship is a source of pride.

"We had a quick chat in the locker room with a little reflection on where we started our season with our team contracting COVID and then navigating what's happened this year, and credit to the NBL for continuing to get the league running to this point," Vickerman said.

"But for the sacrifices that the players of all teams have made this year to being away from their families, and at times basketball felt a little bit like a job. 

"We again started to have some fun once we got through that little period of navigating what was happening. I'm really proud of our guys and what we've achieved so far, and there's still lot to go but it's a good place to be."

The Wildcats will be helping the return of point guard Mitch Norton for the finals makes a difference on this performance where they just could never really get into a groove.

Todd Blanchfield top-scored with 15 points while Luke Travers added 10 points and eight rebounds, and Will Magnay 10 points and four boards. Mooney struggled a little with seven points and six rebounds up against Landale.

Perth coach Trevor Gleeson couldn’t fault his team's effort, but every time they tried to make a run Melbourne would just come up with the game-defining plays.

"I thought our intensity was there but there were a couple of lapses that we had. I think we got it back to four and then they had about three open threes where our defence kind of broke down," Gleeson said.

"Then they pushed it back to double-figures and every time that we challenged they pushed it back or were able to hit a big basket when they need to. 

"Even the last couple of minutes in the first quarter was when they pushed that lead out to double-figures which they maintained for most of the game. We gave it a good, hard crack and you've got to make shots when that situation happens."

Despite no Bryce Cotton or Mitch Norton, the Wildcats started well in front of a crowd of 12,185 with Luke Travers and Todd Blanchfield combining for the game's first five points.

They couldn’t quite maintain the rage with United soon taking over including with triples from Yudai Baba and David Barlow off the bench. They then closed the quarter with a 10-0 run with Jo Lual-Acuil hitting six of those as they led 24-12 despite four points in more than the opening four minutes.

Another Shea Ili three early in the second quarter blew Melbourne's lead out to 15, but Perth did well to fight back into the contest beginning with their own three balls from Clint Steindl and Blanchfield.

The 'Cats then closed the half on a 6-0 to cut Melbourne's lead to just seven and to remain hope of them winning to stay in the race for top spot.

Melbourne didn’t take long to assert its authority again to start the second half including threes from Sam McDaniel and Jock Landale before Chris Goulding scored his first points of the night.

Perth was still hanging around, though, and was able to cut Melbourne's lead to eight by three quarter-time, and then a couple of threes for the Wildcats through development player Corey Shervill suddenly made it a four-point game with seven minutes to go.

Melbourne had all the answers, though, and a pair of long bombs from Barlow, and then another to Baba steadied them before Landale slammed the door shut on Perth and United would win by 14 points to claim the regular season championship.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 21

PERTH WILDCATS 64 (Blanchfield 15, Magnay 10, Travers 10)

MELBOURNE UNITED 78 (Lual-Acuil 16, Landale 14, McCarron 11) 

BOX SCORE