Melbourne United secure seventh straight win, defeat New Zealand 104-88

Written by Lachlan Sherriff

Chris Goulding and Dash Daniels embrace each other during Melbourne's win. (Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

Coming off a 95-86 win in Brisbane against the Bullets on Friday night, Melbourne United returned to John Cain Arena to take on the New Zealand Breakers, with hopes they could improve their record to 7-0.

The Breakers also had high hopes of winning. They may have been 2-5 coming into the game, but an 82-65 win against Tasmania on Friday night ensured confidence and momentum was still high in New Zealand's camp.

When these two teams met a few weeks ago, Melbourne recorded a blowout victory, 114-82. It was a little closer today, but United still never looked in serious trouble. In the end, they recorded a 104-88 victory.

There were certainly positives for New Zealand to take away from this game. Izaiah Brockington did what he does best, and ended with 25 points, while Parker Jackson-Cartwright flirted with a triple double all game. He didn't quite get there in the end, but his final statline of twenty points, nine rebounds and nine assists is nothing to scoff at. But ultimately, New Zealand had no answer for Melbourne United, and specifically their three-point shooting.

Since Melbourne started 4-0 without him while he nursed a quad injury, you almost forget how good Chris Goulding is. But ever since returning, he's been quick to remind us of his talent, and today was his best performance yet.

23 points on 8/12 shooting. 6/8 from three. Simply put, you should not be doing this when you're five days off turning 37.

When Goulding's on the court, it seems like Melbourne United can't miss from three. Not only because he's one of, if not the greatest shooter Australian basketball has ever seen, but also because defenders are so focused on making sure Goulding doesn't get a shot off, that they forget most of his teammates are lethal from three as well.

Chris Goulding was instrumental in Melbourne United's win with 23 points. (Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

Tanner Krebs was Goulding's partner in crime today with seventeen points on 6/10 shooting. Krebs also went 5/8 from three, making it even harder for New Zealand to stop the onslaught of long range makes coming from the home side.

And then there's Tyson Walker, who would have been a very popular man in the Melbourne locker room after the game. Walker was brilliant from start to finish all night, as he ended with a team-high nine assists, along with sixteen points. Ever since joining Melbourne at the start of the season, Walker has excelled in his role as a guard. He finds his teammates for open shots, he's tenacious on defence, and even if it's not the best part of his game, he still knows how to find a bucket for himself.

"I don't really go into a game thinking about trying to get assists or anything. The main thing I try to do is just get steals, honestly. I don't really worry about anything else. But my aggression helps with every part of my game, so I just got to keep being aggressive."

- Tyson Walker on how he's helping Melbourne United win games

As for Dean Vickerman, he couldn't be happier with Melbourne's 7-0 start to the season. There's a lot of teams upcoming on Melbourne United's schedule with the ability to hand them their first loss of the season, but their coach is taking it one game at a time.

"We're worried about Cairns. We're worried about getting our bodies as fresh as possible for another double weekend. You could see some fatigue in this game, and that's why we used our lineups as we did. And if we're looking at Cairns, they could have beat Adelaide the other night with a couple of things going the right way. So we're not looking past that one right now."

- Dean Vickerman on Melbourne United's upcoming schedule

Melbourne will travel up to Queensland to play Cairns in their next game, while New Zealand return home to take on the Bullets.