United Win to Leave Sixth Spot in Wildcats' Hands

It was quite the spectacular shootout to open the last day of the NBL23 regular season but Melbourne United ended up overcoming the Adelaide 36ers 116-107 to now leave their finals destiny in the hands of the Perth Wildcats.

Both United and the 36ers were still a chance to reach the top six coming into Sunday's clash at John Cain Arena. The crowd of 10,175 were treated to quite the offensive spectacle as well with Melbourne ending up scoring nine of the game's last 11 points to win by nine.

There were 223 points scored for the game shooting a combined 26/58 from beyond the arc, but ultimately the difference was Melbourne's work on the glass and especially on the offensive boards.

United finished up collecting 46 rebounds to Adelaide's 25 including 21 to six at the offensive end and those resulting 25 second chance points were critical in the eventual nine-point win.

What it all means is that Melbourne finishes the regular season at 15-13. Quite the achievement after being 5-10 but they now face a nervous wait.

They will stay sixth and take on the South East Melbourne Phoenix to open the play-in tournament unless the Wildcats beat the Sydney Kings by 11 points or more at RAC Arena.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Is this the three that sends Melbourne United into the post-season? ?<br><br>They&#39;ve done their part, now all eyes head to the Perth Wildcats and Sydney Kings ?<br><br>Catch the action live and free on 10 Peach and 10 play | Live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/b0kXQPrBh7">pic.twitter.com/b0kXQPrBh7</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1622101902854074368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Rayjon Tucker continued his spectacular form for Melbourne with another 31 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists.

Chris Goulding went 5/13 from downtown for 23 points with Xavier Rathan-Mayes adding 21 points, five rebounds and five assists.

United coach Dean Vickerman tried some new things to try and rack up the points, or limit Adelaide's, in the first half which didn’t quite work but the offensive rebounding of his team was pivotal.

"It was something new to us to come out and play the way that we did at the start of the game to switch everything, to double every post up and to the boys' credit, every time we've just kind of thrown something different out there, they've bought into it," Vickerman said. 

"We didn’t think the results of it helped us as much as we wanted it to, they still made some really tough contested threes and some of the mismatches they're talented people and made tough shots. 

"We kind of reverted a little bit back to playing our traditional defence in the second half and it didn’t change much either, but I'm not sure if we've put up 116 in my time here before. 

"I loved the second efforts tonight and the second chance points that we got, the offensive rebounding that we picked up was massive."

Antonius Cleveland did all he could to lift the 36ers over the line reaching 30 points for the first time in his career as a pro. He ended up with 30 points and six rebounds including 5/7 three-point shooting.

Sunday Dech added 20 points and four assists, Ian Clark 14 points, four assists and three steals, Robert Franks 13 points and five rebounds, and Daniel Johnson 10 points.

Sixers coach CJ Bruton knew it was always a long shot for his team to win by enough to stay alive but they at last threw everything at it.

"It was a high paced, high scoring games and shooting those types of percentages tells you that it was locked in for a shot at the playoffs," Bruton said.

"To be able to score the ball like that, that's like NBA type stats. It was a great atmosphere, a great game and it's disappointing that we didn’t come away with the win."

Both teams came out with the mentality of wanting to put points on the board quickly, and a lot of them and Melbourne soon had five thanks to Rayjon Tucker and Chris Goulding.

The Sixers responded thanks to triples from Ian Clark, Kyrin Galloway and Antonius Cleveland, but Melbourne matched that shooting and bettered it with bombs from Tucker and two from Xavier Rathan-Mayes.

That saw Melbourne lead 18-11 and 27-20 with Goulding connecting from deep again, but Adelaide scored the last seven points of the quarter to tie scores up at 27-27.

United shot 50 per cent for the quarter with 5/8 from downtown with the 36ers going at 52 per cent with 5/9.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THE SIXERS AREN&#39;T DONE YET ?‍??<br><br>Antonius Cleveland has POWERED them back into this contest with a monster slam ?<br><br>Watch live and free on 10 Peach and 10 play | Live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/5yXdMZlYfn">pic.twitter.com/5yXdMZlYfn</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1622093288684789760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

There was a distinctive lack of defence with both teams pushing the pace and jacking up the shots, and neither team could really make a break.

The 36ers did lead by four a few times during the second term but that was as big as their lead got and by half-time it was the Sixers clinging to a narrow 57-56 lead.

At the break, Cleveland had 14 points for Adelaide and Sunday Dech 12 while as a team they were shooting at 54 per cent hitting 8/15 from downtown. Tucker had 17 points for Melbourne and Rathan-Mayes 13 while they were shooting at 47 per cent and 8/17 from long-range.

It was on the boards that Melbourne was dominating, though, with 26 rebounds to 13, and nine at the offensive end to two.

A couple of times throughout the third quarter United threatened to blow the game open. It started all with five quick points to Isaac Humphries and then a triple to Goulding. When Mason Peatling and Tucker scored too, Melbourne was up seven.

Adelaide responded, though, and when Clark knocked down a three they were back within one before once more Melbourne pulled away with the next seven points including yet another three-pointer from Goulding.

United were still up 87-80 by three quarter-time but the Sixers opened the third quarter with a spectacular dunk from Cleveland over Peatling. He converted it into a three-point play before Dech hit a bucket to make it a two-point margin and after 29 seconds, Dean Vickerman wanted to talk it over.

Out of that timeout, Melbourne's 15th offensive rebound saw Humphries get the steadying basket but the drama was only just starting.

Dech and Cleveland soon knocked down threes to put the Sixers back on top and they stayed there with yet another bomb by Cleveland and another floater from Clark.

But Melbourne stayed in touch and with three minutes to go, on a frenetic play, Tucker landed from downtown and United were back up two.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">CG43 was just a split second too late on the play of the season ?<br><br>Catch the second half live and free on 10 Peach and 10 play | Live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/4Z6VYc2muc">pic.twitter.com/4Z6VYc2muc</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1622082652865204224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

A 19th offensive rebound for Melbourne from Peatling led to a Goulding knockdown three to put his team back up three with 1:35 to play.

It was only fitting then that a 21st offensive rebound soon after from Tucker on his own miss saw him put it back. United were then up four and from there won by nine to enhance their finals chances.

A smart play by Tucker in the last seconds to put up a three could be crucial to extend the margin Perth needs to beat Sydney by to 11. 

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 18
MELBOURNE UNITED 116 (Tucker 31, Goulding 23, Rathan-Mayes 21)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 107 (Cleveland 30, Dech 20, Clark 14) 

BOX SCORE