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Melbourne United vs Brisbane Bullets: Goulding injured as United win by 8

20th October, 2016
Tip-off: 7:30pm (AEDT)
Venue: Hisense Arena, Melbourne
TV: Live, Fox Sports 503
Betting: United $1.38, Bullets $3.08

Melbourne United (expected)
Point guard: Cedric Jackson
Shooting guard: Chris Goulding
Small forward: Todd Blanchfield
Power forward: David Andersen
Centre: Majok Majok
Bench: Devin Williams, Nate Tomlinson, Kyle Adnam, Ramone Moore, Owen Odigie, Tai Wesley, Bennie Lewis

Brisbane Bullets (expected)
Point guard: Jermaine Beal
Shooting guard: Adam Gibson
Small forward: Torrey Craig
Power forward: Cameron Bairstow
Centre: Daniel Kickert
Bench: Tom Jervis, Mitchell Young, Matt Kenyon, Shaun Bruce, Anthony Petrie, Jarryd Bairstow, Reuben Te Rangi
(Chris Pike)
Expert
20th October, 2016
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1248 Reads

Match Result:

Despite losing star Chris Goulding to an ankle injury, Melbourne United have hung on to win their Round 3 NBL match at Hisense Arena over the Brisbane Bullets by eight points.

Unfortunately the injury to the guard could become the big talking point out of the match, which he suffered battling youngster Matt Kenyon early in the final quarter.

There is no question it looked ugly at the time, and if the worst comes to worst Goulding could well miss a couple of weeks recovering which would be a crushing blow for the NBL’s glamor club.

In the absence of Goulding though, who had lit up the game during the second quarter it was it was up to Australian Boomer David Andersen and import Ramone Moore to steady the ship, something they did fantastically.

Moore was a danger all game long, especially with his back to the basket in the post while Andersen didn’t put up huge numbers, but made shots when it counted and generally was a thorn in the side of Brisbane on the defensive end. The pair would top score for Melbourne, hitting 15 points each.

Cedric Jackson was the other United player who must get a mention with his decision making on court near flawless and along with the bench standing up they came back from a tough first quarter.

The Bullets had come out of the gates firing as they have done for most of their games this season and were looking like the better team, particularly on the defensive end.

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Torrey Craig was once again all over the glass and that was a trend that contnued with Cameron Bairstow and Daniel Kickert doing plenty, but they just couldn’t find a way to stay in the lead.

Considering they had made 11 turnovers by the halftime break, and Chris Goulding was shooting the lights out it was hardly a surprise to see them go into the main break trailing by 15 points.

The Bullets began to fight back during the third and continued during the final, but just couldn’t get consistent enough from the field despite the best efforts of Kickert who ended with 23 points.

With their guard rotation of Jermaine Beal, Adam Gibson and Torrey Craig struggling to get involved on offence, and not much more coming off the bench there is plenty to work on for the Bullets.

United will now get ready to face defending premiers the Perth Wildcats on Sunday, while the Bullets head back home to host the beaten New Zealand Breakers on Saturday evening.

In Melbourne though it was United holding on by eight points to win their third match on the trot.

Final Score
Melbourne United 78
Brisbane Bullets 70

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Match preview:

In what shapes as the match of the round, Melbourne United host a Brisbane Bullets side coming off a crushing loss in overtime. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:30pm (AEDT).

United got their season off to a shocking start.

Supposedly the favourites, they travelled to New Zealand and lost their first match, before going down at home to the Adelaide 36ers.

Round 2 saw an emphatic bounce back for the Melbourne club though, recording comprehensive wins against the 36ers on the road, and then the Illawarra Hawks at home.

The problems still remain for United though, with their offence relying on bursts of three-point shooting to spark into gear, and defence looking soft once the likes of David Andersen and Majok Majok go off the floor.

Still, if a different player steps up shooting every game, like Todd Blanchfield did on Sunday as he dissected the Hawks, then it’s hard to see them losing many games.

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The Bullets have been the good news story of the season so far. Taking on defending champions the Perth Wildcats in the season opener, they got away with a come-from-behind victory, before hitting the road and dismantling the Sydney Kings.

Round 2 only saw them play a single game as they went down in overtime by just three points to Adelaide, in a match that they always looked the better side. Still, with the league being so close, every home game is huge, and they will be looking to pick one back up on the road.

Their play style has been just as expected with Andrej Lemanis at the helm, and their defence rock solid at times. If they can get their rotations right, then United will struggle to score.

The key battle should be that of the power forward Boomers – David Andersen for United and Cameron Bairstow for the Bullets. It’s tough to split them, but Bairstow was strong in his first match back from injury and should continue improving.

High-scoring guards Chris Goulding and Jermaine Beal will also have plenty of influence, and it could well turn into a fast-moving shootout.

Prediction
With home court advantage and on the back of a pair of wins, I’ll take United with no confidence. Could be another overtime match on the way.

United by 3.

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Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this Round 3 fixture from 7:30pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to get involved by dropping a comment below.

Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde

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