By Roy Ward
Chris Goulding showed he has ice in his veins, both figuratively and literally, as Melbourne United beat New Zealand Breakers at Invercargill on Friday night.
Cold as ice: United star Chris Goulding leads the way in a priceless away win against the Breakers.Credit: AAP
Goulding has been slowed by bone bruising on his knee in recent weeks, but all that ice treatment on his knee might have improved his clutch shooting as he nailed five crucial points to steer Melbourne to an inspired 108-101 win.
Goulding’s contested layup with under two minutes to play, then a dagger three-pointer with 47 seconds remaining finished the contest – and he knew it at the time, extending his arm and showing the court-side fans where the ice the flowed.
Moments later Goulding (14 points) wandered past the Sky Sports NZ commentary team and let them know he was back, just in case those two big shots hadn’t announced it.
While Goulding was brilliant late on, Casper Ware (24 points) and Josh Boone (26 points, seven rebounds, four blocks) were again outstanding as were Corey Webster (28 points, eight assists) and Shawn Long (15 points) from the Breakers.
DJ Kennedy (14 points, nine rebounds, four assists) was again excellent for Melbourne as was Mitch McCarron (12 points) as he moved onto Webster for much of the second half, slowing him down after a 20-point first half.
The margin was deserved by Melbourne (now 7-3 win-loss) but not reflective of an outstanding, up-tempo contest that was testament to both teams' attacking talents. Considering Melbourne has now won in New Zealand and the Breakers won at Melbourne Arena in round one, it's clear these two are very close together.
Long was fired up early driving to the basket and helping spark an early lead, but Melbourne United recovered and then thrived.
As the tempo of the game continued to rise, Ware, McCarron, David Barlow and Boone all found room to attack, as did Goulding, who again came off the bench to provide the team with some vital scoring punch.
Ware’s three-point play was the highlight of 10 points for the quarter, while Goulding found his range from deep behind the three-point line, hitting a long three as Melbourne led 31-24 at quarter-time.
The Breakers snatched the ascendancy in the second term as Shea Ili, Webster and others fired up from outside and boosted their defence, reeling Melbourne in then building a big lead.
Melbourne had few big moments, although former Breaker Alex Pledger was able to throw down a powerful two-hand dunk.
Webster was the catalyst for some lights-out shooting, reaching 20 points by half time as the home side led 58-51 at the break.
You would expect the two sides would have boost their defence in the third term, but instead the game became faster and even more unpredictable.
McCarron went to a defensive role on Webster, who turned to passing the ball, grabbing several assists. McCarron did, however, have some success in quieting him down, keeping him to just four points for the third quarter.
But both sides fell foul of the referees as Barlow was handed a technical foul for contesting a foul that was called after he was elbowed in the jaw.
Then Breakers coach Kevin Braswell was technical fouled for disputing too many decisions, before Melbourne’s Boone became the third technical foul after he was judged to have flopped after having Long drive through him.
Still Melbourne fought back as Boone, Ware and DJ Kennedy all made big plays. Goulding picked up an uncharacteristic block, stopping Jarrad Weeks at the basket and using his elbow to do it – but the Breakers still led 81-79 at three-quarter time.
The stars on both sides traded baskets throughout much of the last term, with back-to-back three-pointers from well outside the three-point line by Ware helping Melbourne to a tied ball-game at 98-98 with two minutes to play.
Goulding took over from there.
Melbourne will fly home to host Brisbane Bullets at Melbourne Arena on Sunday at 2.50pm.