3 minute read
Melbourne United have hammered Perth 97-68 in the Wildcats' own den, making light of the absence of Matthew Dellavedova.
Melbourne United arrived without Matthew Dellavedova but proved a team on a mission with the brilliant Ian Clark providing 25 points in their 97-68 thrashing of the Perth Wildcats.
United came to RAC Arena in Perth without four-time Olympian Dellavedova who remained home in Melbourne to welcome the arrival of his daughter, but his team handled his absence remarkably well.
Both Melbourne and Perth came into the season with high expectations, and were looking to hit back from losses against Tasmania and Sydney respectively.
There were stars missing on either side with the 'Cats also missing Dylan Windler and Tai Webster, but it proved a dominant and stunningly impressive showing from Melbourne at both ends of the floor.
They took the 12,287 crowd out of it from the start with a 17-2 run late in the opening quarter.
Melbourne scored another 13 straight points in the second term and it wasn't just the outside shooting of Clark who had 17 points for the half on four threes, but Marcus Lee and Jack White also dominated inside.
United went into halftime leading 64-41 on 64 per cent shooting and they didn't let up.
Clark and fellow guard Shea Ili hit a couple more threes themselves in the third quarter with the lead ballooning to 33 points, and they went on to score a statement 29-point victory.
NBL and NBA champion Clark delivered 25 points with 5-of-8 three-point shooting in the win, but it was far from a lone hand.
Ili added 16 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, Chris Goulding 12 points and four assists, Rob Loe 10 points and seven rebounds, Lee 10 points and five boards, and White 10 points and 11 rebounds.
"Credit to our guys, that was probably the best first half of offence that we've played for a long time," said United coach Dean Vickerman.
"The ball really popped around and that was the message coming in after the Tassie game when we didn't do that well enough, and didn't share the basketball or play for each other well enough.
"Tonight it was really positive."
Melbourne's defence was also outstanding holding Perth to 32 per cent field-goal shooting while limiting four-time MVP Bryce Cotton to five points on 2-of-10.
Kristian Doolittle and Ben Henshall both scored 12 points, and Keanu Pinder 10 along with 11 rebounds for the Wildcats on a horror night at home.
Wildcats coach John Rillie felt his team desperately missed both Webster and Windler.
"The simple answer is that I think everyone saw how valuable Tai Webster is to our team tonight," he said.
"Then obviously there's Windler on the glass as well so to have two guys out like that, it's tough. In saying that, we just didn't show up and play very well."
