NBL22: Melbourne United defeat New Zealand Breakers

Melbourne United set yet another franchise record in a “celebration” of sharing as the reigning champions wiped the floor with New Zealand.

Michael Randall

4 min read

February 20, 2022 - 6:07PM

NCA NewsWire

Ariel Hukporti threw down a massive slam during United’s demolition of the Breakers. Picture: Getty Images

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The Kiwis might have been better off handing Melbourne United a walkover as the reigning champions made New Zealand Breakers look like a bush-league team in a 35-point pasting.

United was in an intense sharing and caring mood on Sunday afternoon, dealing out a franchise record 31 assists and bringing the defensive heat on the way to a 108-73 hammering.

“We were pretty relentless,” Vickerman said.

“I liked the consistency of effort and having 31 assists is certainly something that we’ve been preaching about, how we move the basketball, how we get others involved and share it.

“I thought everybody was into the celebration of rewarding that extra ball movement.”

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Ariel Hukporti threw down a massive slam during United’s demolition of the Breakers. Picture: Getty Images

The popular opinion among NBL pundits is the Breakers have too much talent to be one rung from the bottom of the ladder, but they played like they were resigned to their fate.

The movement off the ball and willingness to share on offence was, quite frankly, non-existent — they had just two assists at halftime. United had 18 at that point and finished with 31 for the game, nine of those handed out by Matthew Dellavedova.

They missed more than half of their free throws — on three occasions clunking both and leaving United fans wondering if they get three free burgers.

The defensive effort was not there, either, as the decision to switch everything allowed United to pick apart mismatches during the 40-minute onslaught.

The reserve scoring was non-existent, too — The reserves had just two points between them at three-quarter-time.

The Covid nightmare has forced the Breakers to relocate to Australia for the second season in a row and that is a legitimate excuse for their struggles but they have not found a way to adapt.

Jack White had another great game for United. Picture: Getty Images

Dan Shamir couldn’t pinpoint where things went wrong in a dirty night for his side, but gave credit to United.

“You lose a game by 35, there’s not really a lot to say, besides some cliche’s I don’t really like,” Shamir said.

“Hats off to United, everything they’re doing, the way they impacted the game definitely shows.

“This is why they are in first place and we are not.

“Not a good day for us. We showed up today, got punched hard, but I think we’re better than that.”

Breakers point guard Peyton Siva lamented his side’s inability to play at its best.

“They’re a very good team and when you play a team like this you have to bring your A game and we didn’t,” Siva said.

Peyton Siva had 17 points for the Breakers. Picture: Getty Images

Vickerman went to United’s bench in junk time — problem for New Zealand, though, is that there was still more than half a game of basketball left when little-used reserves Zac Triplett and Callum Dalton checked in.

Up nearly 30 in the third quarter, United was still diving on loose balls, scrambling on defence and running the floor like it was a close game.

The ball movement — admittedly against a team that had given up — was brilliant. On consecutive plays late in the third, it went through a number of hands before Mason Peatling and then Shea Ili buried three-pointers.

They then partied in the last, finishing with their highest score of the season for the third game in a row, with seven players in double figures, led by Caleb Agada’s 17.

“It was good, it was a fun game, we had our goals set defensively and I feel like we accomplished that,” Agada said.

“We played well offensively at the other end, so it was good to play at home and give the fans something to get excited about.”

United had temporarily given up its title of best defensive team in the land to Tasmania. But the demolition job helped them reclaim that title and sent a message to the rest of the league — we’re the champions and all roads to NBL glory come through us.

United star Chris Goulding had plenty of rest. Picture: Getty Images

Top of the pops

The battle for top of the table is going to be an intriguing one. With a mooted nine games in a row to close the season at their home fortress RAC Arena, Perth is the popular pick to finish on top. But, after a long road stretch during the Australian Open, United will enjoy a very favourable draw on its way to the finals. The fixtures are yet to be released, but the mail is United will play eight of its last 13 games at John Cain Arena. Six of those will be home games, along with two Throwdowns against South East Melbourne Phoenix. They travel just five times — with a trip to Perth that could prove to be the game that decides who finishes on top. Stay tuned.

Quiet towers

This was meant to be the battle of the league’s two best big men. But the Breakers tried to double United monster Jo Lual-Acuil, while Yanni Wetzell, like most of his teammates, had no impact with just five points and two boards. JLA still had 11 points, but only had to play 19 minutes as his teammates shared the load.