UNITED EDGE OUT MISFIRING BULLETS

“YOU come at the king, you best not miss”.

The quote from the TV show The Wire rang true yesterday when Brisbane failed to take their opportunities and suffered a 102-94 loss to the relentless reigning NBL champions Melbourne United.

United have made Melbourne Arena a genuine fortress and claimed their 17th win from their last 19 home games with a second-half surge to finish over the top of the Bullets, who fell to their third-straight defeat.

To beat United in Melbourne, you have to be near-perfect. Brisbane were not and had to cop the consequences, with their winloss record now 4-6.

You cannot commit 15 turnovers, lose the rebounding count, get into foul trouble and expect to beat the deep and talented United outfit.

Brisbane produced a sizzling second term, outscoring United 24-18 to take a one-point cushion into halftime with imports Stephen Holt (11 points) and Lamar Patterson (10 points) to the fore for the plucky visitors.

However, they both added just one point each to their tallies as they were intermittently used after the main break as Adam Gibson (19 points) and Cam Gliddon (16 points) took on the scoring duties for the Bullets who trailed by two points at three quarter-time.

Led by import guard Casper Ware (23 points, six assists), recalled Boomers forward David Barlow (18 points) and captain Chris Goulding (16 points), Melbourne seized the momentum in the final term to secure their sixth win from seven outings and cement second place on the ladder.

The Bullets face Illawarra on Thursday night.