A trademark Chris Goulding scoring blitz was the impetus for Melbourne United to overturn a half-time deficit and take game one of its best-of-three semi final series 105-93 over Perth Wildcats at John Cain Arena on Thursday night.
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Goulding piled on 15 points in the third quarter, including four triples, to break the game open to give United a 10-point three quarter time lead.
Then with the Wildcats making one final push, starting the fourth period on a 7-0 run and cutting the deficit to two, Goulding again erupted.
The 36-year-old shooting sensation piled on five fourth quarter three pointers to put the game out of reach of the Wildcats, finishing with 41 points, including a remarkable 10-17 from three.
Operation Bryce Cotton was in full swing for United.
Cotton scored with MVP efficiency with 22 points on 8/12 shooting, but United’s team defence was too locked in.
Limited the 32-year-old scoring maestro to just 12 shots was a definite win for United.
Ian Clark was huge off the bench for United.
The veteran guard finished with 22 points on 10-17 shooting.
It meant that United outscored the Wildcats 37-13 in bench points – a key factor in the game.
The victory continued United’s stranglehold over the Wildcats, winning all four matches between the teams so far this season, and 16 of the last 21 games going back five seasons.
United has a chance to return to the NBL championship series if they can close out the series in Perth on Saturday night.
Brutal start
The brutality of a United-Wildcats playoff series was on show early.
Wildcats import forward Dylan Windler aggressively drove to the basket and United’s defensive player of the year Shea Ili stood tall and copped his knee to the ribs.
There was initial concern for Ili, who looked worse for wear, but he returned to the game to applause from the home fans.
It was the kind of bravery needed in a series that will likely be settled by fine margins.
Tough night for MVP
With Ili sweating on his every move, it took seven minutes for Cotton to score his first points.
By which time United had opened up a healthy 10-point advantage before heading to quarter time with a 23-17 lead
Ili was sweating on Cotton’s every move.
Ominously, Cotton swished his first three point attempt after quarter time.
The league MVP started to find holes in what had been water-tight United defence during the second period.
With the Cotton threat looming large, space opened up for Wildcats forward Kristian Doolittle and centre Keanu Pinder on the offensive end, with all three registering double digits in the first half.
Doolittle’s ability to disrupt and get on the boards was crucial for the Cats.
He had 22 points and nine rebounds.
Clark cooks
Clark’s first half impact for United was huge with the veteran shooting guard racking up 16 points by half time, but it was the Wildcats who led 50-49 at the half.
Pinder kept the United bigs Rob Loe and Marcus Lee on their toes with his dogged determination.
The masked big was superb throughout with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
With Wildcats guard Tai Webster heading to the bench with a shoulder concern, Goulding heated up to the point where Cotton was so concerned, he grabbed his jersey to give up an obvious foul.
The Wildcats were right to be concerned with Goulding completely changing the momentum of the game in the second half.
SCOREBOARD
Melbourne United 105 (Goulding 41 Clark 22 White 13) d Perth Wildcats 93 (Pinder 24 Cotton 22 Doolittle 22)
At John Cain Arena, Melbourne
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