United survive dramatic ending

Melbourne United had to withstand two separate 16-2 second half runs from the Sydney Kings and came away with the dramatic 90-88 road win with Matthew Dellavedova finding Jack White for the winning bucket.

Melbourne led by as much as 20 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth quarter, but Sydney went on two 16-2 runs led by Xavier Cooks and Kouat Noi to level scores before United snatched the win just before the buzzer.

With a team full of NBA and NBL champions, Olympians and World Cup participants, Melbourne were going to hit back emphatically soon having lost five of the past six matches when they arrived at Qudos Bank Arena.

It had already been a dramatic day for the Kings after they voided the contract of new import Lamonte Turner.

Melbourne built an early 19-6 advantage which turned into a 16-point lead by quarter-time and it was out to as much as 20 midway through the third quarter.

Sydney ended the third quarter with 16 of the last 18 points, but United scored the first eight points of the fourth.

There was one more twist to come and when Noi hit three free-throws and then Sydney forced the turnover, Izayah Le'afa grabbed the offensive rebound and hit the three, scores were level.

Out of a timeout, Melbourne executed perfectly with Dellavedova finding White under the bucket and they won by two to improve to 14-9 in second place on the back of 27 fast break points and 20 points from Sydney's 15 turnovers.

"Delly's an elite passer, obviously a player that can get Whitey open, get Chris open for a high-percentage shot in a short amount of time," said United coach Dean Vickerman.

"It was well-executed."

White ended up with 23 points and 10 rebounds with Shea Ili delivering 20 points and five assists, Rob Loe 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals, Chris Goulding 13 points, and Dellavedova 11 points and eight assists.

White, who had a fascinating battle with Cooks, had his 11th double-double of the season.

"I think it's just understanding that for us to be at our best, I just need to be aggressive and assertive out there," he said.

The Kings are now 13-10 and without the new import now never to eventuate because there aren’t enough games left in the season.

Sydney's remaining two imports had rough nights with Jaylen Adams (seven points, 2/7 shooting) and Cam Oliver (three points, 1/5) finishing with -26 and -17 for the game.

Cooks came up big once more with 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks with Noi finishing with 19 points and nine boards, Alex Toohey 10 points and three assists, and Le'afa 10 points, six rebounds and three steals.

The match was Goorjian's 850th in the NBL across his time as player and coach, with 826 of those coming in the coaching hot seat but he had mixed emotions.

"The frustrating part is it's the same obstacle and we haven't overcome it yet. I thought we were sloppy with the ball, and lazy," he said.

"When it came up, I definitely had a nice little reflection on how fortunate I am and all the good people that I've been around," said the six-time championship winner.

"I'm really blessed and really thankful, and really disappointed we lost tonight."

It had every bit the feeling coming into it of the chance to be a statement game and it was Melbourne setting the tone from the outset beginning with a Chris Goulding three ball.

United turned that into a 12-4 start before another run of seven straight points starting with another three ball from Goulding and finishing with an offensive rebound and thunderous putback dunk from Marcus Lee.

That saw Melbourne leading 19-6 and it became 24-8 after a third triple from Goulding and another finish at the rim from Lee.

Sydney did get a spark from Kouat Noi with six quick points but United were still on top at the first break with the 32-16 advantage.

Melbourne maintained the double-figure advantage throughout the second quarter too and were getting out and running for some spectacular plays including Matthew Dellavedova setting up Jack White for the flush in one of his seven assists for the half.

By the break United were in frontal leading 57-41 and Melbourne's lead was out to 20 with 5:41 to go in the third and from there the game underwent a dramatic transformation.

United wouldn’t score for more than five minutes with the Kings piling on 14 consecutive points.

Xavier Cooks and Alex Toohey combined for 12 of those 14 points and the Kings ended up closing out the quarter on a 16-2 run to cut Melbourne's lead to six.

United responded with the first eight points of the fourth quarter to be back out to a 14-point lead but still Sydney never went away.

Coach Brian Goorjian backed in his group not including imports Jaylen Adams and Cam Oliver, and they went on another 16-2 scoring run to tie the scores.

It was a dramatic final minute including Noi fouled by White taking a three, and making all three before the Kings forced the back court turnover before Shaun Bruce jacked up a prayer.

Izayah Le'afa nabbed the offensive rebound and then got up a three ball that went down to tie scores up with 5.5 seconds left.

Melbourne had a timeout left and coming out of that, Dellavedova found White under the bucket for the layup and United escaped with the dramatic win.

Sydney will remain at home to host the Cairns Taipans on Sunday while Melbourne heads to New Plymouth to face the New Zealand Breakers on Monday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

SYDNEY KINGS 88 (Cooks 21, Noi 19, Toohey 10, Le'afa 10)

MELBOURNE UNITED 90 (White 23, Ili 20, Loe 15)

BOX SCORE