United front required to trump NBL24 leaders

Adelaide 36ers will visit John Cain Arena on Saturday night and face a red-hot, NBL24 ladder leading Melbourne United.

Fresh off a 106-78 Throwdown victory against arch-rival South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday night, United, who sit on top of the NBL24 ladder with a 12-3 record, will be full of confidence.

Melbourne was on fire at the offensive end in the first half, with 66 points in the opening 20 minutes against the Phoenix, while also showing their dominance at the defensive end.

United have stars across their entire roster and have matchwinners off their bench, including former 36er Ian Clark and NBL Next Star Ariel Hukporti.

The league leaders are in control of the competition, rated first in defensive rating while also possessing the second-best offense, this is a huge rest for the 36ers.

THE KEY
Chris Goulding is arguably the MVP of the NBL24 season so far, and the Boomers Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist has carried his side at times this campaign.

With United struggling with early season injury woes to Clark, Matthew Dellavedova, Jo Lual Acuil and Luke Travers, Goulding has put together some big games and has been lights out from outside.

Shooting the three-pointer at just under 44 per cent this NBL24 season, Goulding is a world class marksman and would be right at the top of the whiteboard for 36ers head coach Scott Ninnis.

Goulding is averaging just under 20 points per night, but stopping the swingman is a 40-minute assignment and expect multiple defenders to get their chance at nullifying his impact.

 Lual-Acuil also is getting back to his best form after missing the first month of the season with a wrist injury.

The star big man missed United’s 82-74 win against Adelaide at the Entertainment Centre, but has stamped his authority on the league lately, including on Thursday night against the Phoenix with the impressive stat line of 17 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks.

THE SECRET
With superstars right across the roster, United don’t have too many secrets, but the league leaders’ biggest weapon is their depth.

Melbourne has a number of options to walk out in their starting five each night, but the impact from the bench can be just as dangerous and United had seven players in double figure points on Thursday night against South East Melbourne.

To have NBA and NBL champion Clark coming off the bench is a luxury, while Kyle Bowen is an underrated prospect in his first NBL season after a NCAA college career at St Mary’s.

Hukporti can be a starter in the NBL and has shown he can fill that role quite nicely in the early absence Lual-Acuil early in the season, while Flynn Cameron is a rooking from UC Riverside that keeps improving each game, and who wouldn't when you're training every day against the likes of Dellavedova, Clark, Goulding and Shea Ili.

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DEPTH CHART
PG: Dellavedova / Cameron / Blogg
SG: Ili / Clark / Triplett
SF: Goulding / Krebs / Machar
PF: Travers / Bowen / Newley
C: Lual-Acuil Jr / Hukporti

FINAL WORD
There is no bigger challenge in the NBL right now than to go to Melbourne and defeat United at John Cain Arena.

But, it has already been down twice so far in NBL24, by Tasmania and Perth and the 36ers should take a lot of positives away from last week’s match against Cairns, depsite the 116-101 defeat.

Ninnis highlighted the team did lose some legs late in the contest, so expect the shortened rotation to continue but with some more short and sharp bursts against a United team who are 10 deep on the bench.

The 36ers proved they can score and score quickly in their new-look, up-tempo offense, but Adelaide must control the rebound count and limit the second chance looks for United.

A great three-point shooting team, and United have multiple weapons who can hit from downtown, can win a game off a few offensive rebounds and if Melbourne get their shooting on target and the home crowd involved, this spells trouble for Adelaide.

But the 36ers have the team to match it with the league leaders and have proved it on the opening weekend of the season.

Lual-Acuil and Clark come into the United team from that game, but Adelaide also add DJ Vasiljevic and a new game style under Ninnis.

Saturday night is the perfect stage for the 36ers to make that statement which has been weeks in the making.