United put Bullets to the sword

Melbourne United built some confidence in Perth on Wednesday and put an injury ravaged Brisbane Bullets to the sword on Sunday to close their road trip solid in second with the emphatic 115-88 victory.

United hit back from a 22-point loss last Saturday in their battle for top spot with the Illawarra Hawks by making it 10 of 11 wins in Perth over the Wildcats on Wednesday, and continued the momentum at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

While the Bullets were also coming off a Friday night win against the New Zealand Breakers, Josh Bannan (concussion) joined their casualty list already featuring Tyrell Harrison, Rocco Zikarsky and Emmett Naar.

United took complete control in the second quarter after the Bullets put up a good fight in the first.

Melbourne produced 35 points on shooting 13/21 from the field and capitalised on their pressure with 17 points off Brisbane's turnovers combined with eight second chance points for the half.

The game blew open in that second quarter with the Bullets managing to shoot just 5/16 for 14 points, and United did as they pleased in the second half as they build to another title run.

Melbourne finished with another 26-21 in the third quarter, and went on to secure the 27-point win to stay solid in second at 17-10.

United finishes the seven-game road trip now with five wins with 18 points from Brisbane's 15 turnovers, 19 second chance points from 12 offensive rebounds, and shooting 53 per cent.

Ian Clark built some confidence in Perth on Wednesday and delivered 24 points with 5/13 three-point shooting while Chris Goulding made 4/8 for 16 points including a one-handed throwdown.

Jack White continued his strong form with 17 points and six rebounds with Matthew Dellavedova adding 14 points and six assists, and Shea Ili nine points, eight assists and four steals.

"We can't win a championship or even consider doing well in a finals series unless we get everyone playing well," United coach Dean Vickerman said of their all-round performance.

"Everyone has these little dips. You get through it, it makes you stronger."

The Bullets will be left to wonder what could have been this season with even something close to a healthy roster as they now slip to 11-16 with two road matches to finish NBL25.

It was a rough afternoon that got worse for the Bullets when Keandre Cook wasn’t right to go in the second half either with Josh Adams putting together his best performance since replacing James Batemon with 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Tohi Smith-Milner battled hard without Bannan, Harrison and Zikarsky with him up front for 16 points and eight rebounds with Casey Prather adding 15 points and four boards, and Isaac White 14 points.

"There's been black cats, ladders, broken windows at our facility," Bullets coach Schueller said.

"If I spend my time on that I'd go insane. When we've got people out our margin for error is so small and that second quarter is so frustrating for us.

"But we haven't allowed an excuse all year ... we've got two games now we have to win."

Matthew Dellavedova opened up with a three-pointer on the back of going 2/2 from three on Wednesday night in Perth but the Bullets answered well with four points to Josh Adams and two to Tohi Smith-Milner to lead 6-3.

Melbourne answered with an 8-2 run including Chris Goulding's first three ball back in the city he started his NBL career 18 years ago.

Brisbane hit back with eight straight points themselves starting with a bucket to Tyrell Harrison's replacement, Callum Dalton, and then three balls to Deng Adel and Keandre Cook.

The Bullets were leading 16-11 but United closed out the quarter well from there and by the end of it scores were all square at 26-26 with Melbourne turning four offensive rebounds into six second chance points.

While Brisbane had done well to stick with Melbourne in the first quarter, that didn’t continue with United putting together an emphatic second period.

It started by going inside to Rob Loe before Goulding made a couple of three balls, and then Dellavedova took control to have 12 points and four assists by half-time.

Jack White continued finishing at the rim and United piled on 35 points to 14 for the quarter to be well in control at half-time leading 61-40 finishing the half on a 13-3 scoring run.

Melbourne kept the momentum going in the third quarter and Ian Clark knocked down three triples to open up a 26-point lead by three quarter-time, and then it got out beyond 30 in the fourth.

Melbourne's lead was as much as 31 points and with percentage potentially crucial in final positioning, United did maintain the level to win by 27.

The Bullets now have just two games to go over the last two rounds and both are on the road starting on Friday against Adelaide and then the following Thursday in Cairns.

Melbourne returns home for the last two games against the Tasmania JackJumpers on Saturday and then it's a Throwdown the following Saturday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 88 (Adams 23, Smith-Milner 16, Prather 15)

MELBOURNE UNITED 115 (Clark 24, White 17, Goulding 16)

BOX SCORE