United downs Kings in thriller
WHAT a game. What a rivalry.
In the end, though, there could only be one winner.
Melbourne United reigned supreme, 84-82, in a pulsating affair against Sydney Kings yesterday in front of a sold out crowd of 10,300 at Melbourne Arena. Got gears? United does. The NBL champions had to pull out all stops yesterday to eke out another crunch win despite being headed with less than seconds left.
The best part about this rivalry, be it United and the Kings, Josh Boone and Andrew Bogut, Casper Ware and Jerome Randle or Chris Goulding and Kevin Lisch is it is built solely on respect. Respect for each other. Respect for the league. Respect for the game. The trash talk is real, so is the physicality and competitive spirit which get ramped into overdrive when the NBL heavyweights lock horns.
It used to, with all due respect, be somewhat confected.
Melbourne and Sydney love to hate each other, right? You know the drill, our coffee versus theirs, our river versus their harbour.
Forget that drivel, Ware and Randle owned yesterday’s pulsating clash.
Randle couldn’t miss early, piling on an NBL career-high 16 points in the first quarter and finished with 35 points including five threes.
None better than a catch and shoot triple under extreme Ware pressure in the corner seconds after the pair exchanged verbals.
Melbourne, in contrast, couldn’t buy a long-range bucket early and throughout,
“I said ‘please go in’ and it did”
going at 0-7 before Ware splashed back-to-back threes to give United the lead. Enter the surge. With the game on the line United found another level behind Mitch McCarron.
The firecracker kept the scoreboard ticking over in the second half and then emerged with the game-winner – a tipin – after Ware’s shot bobbled off the rim.
“I thought it (Ware’s shot) was going to go in so I was jumping just to tip out (to a teammate) if it missed, I didn’t really know, I just thought there’s not long left so jump and see what happens and fortunately it went in,” McCarron said.
“I don’t want to say it was an accident, it was deliberate, but it didn’t go straight in either so I was a bit nervous as I was going down, I said ‘please go in’ and it did.”
With 2.6 seconds left DJ Kennedy, who chimed in with 10 points and 12 rebounds, deflected an inbound pass to end the game.
Stand-in United coach Paul Henare praised McCarron and Kennedy.
“Mr Reliable – they just do things, multiple things across the field, they rebound, they play defence, for him (Kennedy),” he said.
“To get that deflection when the game was on the line was outstanding.”