Delly leads United over Rocco's Bullets

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Next Star Rocco Zikarsky offered a glimpse of his potential, but Matthew Dellavedova inspired Melbourne to victory.

Teenage Australian Next Star Rocco Zikarsky offered a glimpse of his potential but Matthew Dellavedova inspired Melbourne United to the 96-92 NBL Blitz win over Brisbane Bullets.

The opening night at the Hungry Jack's NBL Blitz on the Gold Coast finished in spectacular fashion, with a terrific contest between the Bullets and United.

Rocco Zikarsky was exciting for Brisbane in his 18 minutes and showed he'll provide a fascinating big man partnership with Aron Baynes this season.

But ultimately it was another Australian Boomers superstar, Dellavedova, who was the star of the night as he put up 28 points to let off some frustration from not going to the FIBA World Cup to lead Melbourne to the four-point win at Gold Coast Convention Centre.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">OKAY Shea Ili ?<br><br>Watch every game live & free via Kayo Freebies ? <br><br>Outside Australia? Watch at <a href="https://t.co/8LoWsbR7E4">https://t.co/8LoWsbR7E4</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/GL1yg30jy9">pic.twitter.com/GL1yg30jy9</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1703007047543857567?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It was a hot start at the NBL Blitz from the Bullets with a lot of the crowd having come down to cheer them on. They piled on 30 points to 21 in the first quarter with Isaac White helping to lead the way with a couple of three-point bombs after leading the NBL1 North scoring at the Mackay Meteors.

Brisbane was still leading 47-42 by half-time before the third quarter became quite the spectacle including 17-year-old Next Star Zikarsky delivering a huge block on Brad Newley to go with some impressive finishes up the other end.

United weren’t going away, though, and finished the third quarter with a couple of threes from Dellavedova, a big flush from Luke Travers and Brisbane were only clinging to a four-point lead thanks to a late triple from development player Matthew Johns.

Dellavedova wasn’t going to let Melbourne lose and despite Chris Goulding going scoreless on the night with 0/8 shooting, the three-time Olympian started the final term with a three-point play, iced the game with the clutch free-throws and United prevailed despite some hot shooting for Brisbane from Chris Smith.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ROCCING THE RIM ? <br><br>NBL Next Star Rocco Zikarsky is dangerous above the ring ?<br><br>Watch every game live & free via Kayo Freebies ? <br><br>Outside Australia? Watch at <a href="https://t.co/8LoWsbR7E4">https://t.co/8LoWsbR7E4</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/jz9niAD5bH">pic.twitter.com/jz9niAD5bH</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1702999120237981817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Fresh off his NBA season at the Sacramento Kings and then the disappointment of not playing for the Boomers at the recent World Cup, Dellavedova produced 28 points with 4/8 three-point shooting and going 10/11 at the foul line.

Ian Clark had another 13 points for Melbourne, Shea Ili 15 points, six rebounds and four assists, Luke Travers 11 points, six boards and two blocks, Rob Loe nine points, five rebounds and two blocks, and Ariel Hukporti eight points and eight boards.

Despite the end result, there was a lot to like for Brisbane even with concern over a knee complaint in the first half to Josh Bannan.

Chris Smith again shot impressively making 5/7 from beyond the three-point line for 21 points and five rebounds with Isaac White finishing with 13 points, and Mitch Norton 10 points, three steals, two assists and two rebounds.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Chris Smith is on fire ? <br><br>Brisbane's new import has 1??5?? points so far in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLBlitz?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLBlitz</a> ?<br><br>Watch every game live & free via Kayo Freebies ? <br><br>Outside Australia? Watch at <a href="https://t.co/8LoWsbR7E4">https://t.co/8LoWsbR7E4</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/MUoxuEFgwH">pic.twitter.com/MUoxuEFgwH</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1703006255420211240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The excitement was with Zikarsky, though, who delivered 11 points, two rebounds and a block in 18 minutes while fellow big man Aron Baynes had four points, nine rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes.

Melbourne is in action again in the first game on Monday evening against the Illawarra Hawks with Brisbane not playing again until Wednesday afternoon also against the Hawks.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ

MELBOURNE UNITED 96 (Dellavedova 28, Ili 15, Clark 13)
BRISBANE BULLETS 92 (Smith 21, White 13, Sobey 13)

BOX SCORE