THE National Basketball League (NBL) action for Round 12 continued over the weekend, with fans treated to plenty of exciting play in a number of matches. This weekend saw the schedule continue at John Cain Arena, with Melbourne United playing host to the New Zealand Breakers on Sunday afternoon, with both sides entering this clash fresh off a win.

United were still favoured to take home the chocolates in this matchup, but it seemed impossible to rule out the Breakers, who had shown glimpses of fantastic play amongst their inconsistent performances. Despite this intrigue, the reigning champions were able to get the job done in front of their home crowd, delivering a clinical performance to claim a whopping 35-point win and maintain their spot atop the standings.

In this article, we take a look at how United were able to dominate their opponent, and the strengths inside this powerful performance.

United got out to a cracking start in the opening term, moving the ball in their half of the court with ease as they consistently found the best way to the bottom of the net. The term was actually quite tense in the first few minutes, with the Breakers matching this intensity, but they could not maintain this as the home side took a double-digit lead into quarter-time. The lead continued to grow over the next couple of periods, with United seemingly firing on all cylinders. By the time the third quarter ended, Melbourne had a whopping 40-point lead with things getting truly ugly for New Zealand. The Breakers were able to trim the margin down a tad in the fourth, but their opponents had taken their foot off the gas by this time as they claimed one of the biggest statement wins this season.

Team Stats

Melbourne was simply dominant in nearly all of the key statistical categories listed above. They had a very good game shooting from the field, with over half of their shots finding the bottom of the net. There were no flaws in their efficiency when putting up shots, as they found holes in the Breakers’ defence with no problems at all. They also excelled in the rebounding battle, despite no individual having double-digit numbers in this category, which demonstrates the depth of talent on this list. Melbourne was also able to display their unselfish style of play, recording 20 more assists than the opposition side (and rack up a franchise record), with Matthew Dellavedova dishing out nine on his own.

Top Points Scorers

Agada led the way for United in their win, as his impressive season contiunues. He has cited the support of his teammates as a big influence in his strong performances, and it showed on Sunday afternoon. The guard finished with a team-high 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists to be the standout for Melbourne. White was efficient from the field on his way to 14 points, and worked nicely on both ends of the court, while the sharpshooting Goulding overcame some inefficient shooting to prove a nice contributor.