Melbourne United beat Adelaide 36ers 114-91
During Monday night’s 23-point home loss to Melbourne, Adelaide looked championship material one minute, bystander the next — now their nearly season nearly looks done.
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LIKE the shot that rolled around the ring and rimmed out, the first-half run they couldn’t quite sustain and the percentage that keeps them outside the top four, Adelaide’s nearly season nearly looks done.
Monday night’s 23-point home loss to Melbourne was a snapshot of the year where Adelaide looked championship material one minute, bystander the next.
And the 114-91 defeat soured after the buzzer when Sixers’ development player Bijan Johnson — who played 1min 17 secs — appeared to push Melbourne’s DJ Kennedy, almost sparking an all-in fight.
There is no love lost in the biggest rivalry in the league.
And as last year’s grand finalists produced another spirited contest, it was the grand final MVP Chris Goulding who delivered the killer blow with 16 points, including three threes to start the final quarter.
The writing might have even been on the wall with two minutes to play in the first quarter when Majok Deng’s shot rimmed out, Jack McVeigh tipped it back in, then out, then in, then out again.
Then with 20 seconds to go, Harry Froling got a rebound, spun around and his shot rolled around the rim and in golfing terms, lipped out.
As with the 36ers this season, close but not close enough. But also as with the 36ers’ season, it wasn’t all bad either. Nathan Sobey was phenomenal with 17 first-half points, including a buzzer beating three and his usual acrobatics courtesy of a breathtaking pass from Shaun Bruce.
Sobey led all scorers with 24 for the game.
McVeigh put big heat on the boards with nine rebounds and was rewarded with 11 points, Adam Doyle was sharp from the field including two threes, and Daniel Johnson finished with 15 points. But as the loss became a blowout, we still don’t know whether Adelaide will play finals in the race with Brisbane for fourth spot, with games against Cairns, New Zealand, Melbourne and Perth to finish.
United started strongly but Adelaide clawed its way back with four defensive stops to start the second quarter.
It appeared to unsettle Melbourne and Casper Ware, who got three fouls, including a technical in a minute.
Two more stops and some Froling, Demitrius Conger and Sobey magic and Adelaide was right back in it — then Sobey’s three-pointer on the buzzer made it 48-48 at half-time. But it’s a handy weapon when a team can simply give it to Ware and Goulding and they do it the rest.
The pair lit it up from outside three, draining nine points in three shots to regain control.
Goulding then did it again to start the last quarter and suddenly Melbourne was up by 16 — and it was game over.
For the second game in a row, Conger finished with just four points when his team desperately needs more.
Fellow import Jacob Wiley had just four points as well in 18 minutes of court time.
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Originally published as Melbourne United beat Adelaide 36ers 114-91
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