Unbeaten Melbourne thump Taipans in Goulding’s return
Shayne Hope |
Melbourne United veteran Chris Goulding made a successful return from injury to help his team extend their unbeaten start to the NBL campaign with a 95-60 thumping of hapless Cairns.
Goulding missed his team’s first four games of the season with a quadriceps injury and was left out of the exhibition clash with the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans.
But the 36-year-old guard had an instant impact off the bench at John Cain Arena on Sunday and finished with an equal game-high 16 points in a one-sided affair.
Melbourne took complete control before halftime, opening a 42-15 lead on the back of a 25-0 run through the first and second periods.
Cairns showed some fight in the third and Jack McVeigh floored Goulding off the ball in an action the United star called a “dog act” in discussion with a referee.
But the margin remained in double figures throughout the second half as Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman gave his bench plenty of valuable minutes.
“It was a pretty weird game to come back in,” Goulding said.
“For the most part I got through pretty unscathed, which is a big tick at this point.
“It was good to get out there and try to build some chemistry with some guys that I’ve been watching train for a long time.”
Dutch dunker Jesse Edwards had 16 points and 12 boards, while fellow import Tyson Walker had 12 points despite a lingering thumb injury.
The lop-sided result gave Melbourne a perfect 5-0 record and an average winning margin of 21 points.
“We’re a group that looks at it and keeps saying, ‘How do we keep getting better?'” United coach Vickerman said.
“As Chris (Goulding) and Shea (Ili) come back in, I don’t think the identity of the group will change too much.
“We’re pretty solid about who we want to be and that’s really letting the ball pop. When the ball’s moving like that and everyone’s involved in it, we’re tough to stop.”
Cairns (2-4) were beaten at home by Perth on Friday night and have lost three straight games, while also suffering three defeats by more than 30 points this season.
The Taipans coughed up 26 turnovers against Melbourne in a horror performance and shot the ball at just 37 per cent from the field.
American forward Admiral Schofield fouled out before three-quarter time with just two points and five turnovers to his name.
Fellow import Andrew Andrews had 10 points, six assists and seven turnovers, while Alex Higgins-Titsha (16 points) fought hard in a losing cause.
Star forward McVeigh took just six shots and finished with eight points.
“We’re not shooting the ball very well at all; the open shots, the foul shots, the at-the-rim shots,” Taipans coach Adam Forde said.
“Then there’s that flow-on effect of how that affects us defensively.
“There were stretches of that game where we were really good defensively and then there’s an immediate turnover, and everything just compounds.
“Stress does a funny thing and I think that really exposed where we sit in terms of that scale of dealing with stress, which isn’t great.”
Melbourne take on Brisbane (away) and New Zealand (home) in round five, while Cairns host Adelaide on Saturday.
AAP
