I think NZB are in the same boat as Perth an aging core winding down. Penney's done, Vukona's just about done and Abercrombie & Pledger both seem to be winding down a bit early too.

It's an interesting time for the Breakers with the transition to new ownership and looking to their future with Ili, Delany and Ngatai. Perhaps they'll be able to lure T. Webster & Fotu back from Europe.

Melbourne won game 1 convincingly with quiet games from everyone except Casper Ware and I can't see NZB being as fortunate this time.

I hope they win I'd like to see nothing more than Melb extended and roughed up heading into the GF but I think Melb have too many weapons for them to counter.

I know Abercrombie has been great over the years, but I still classify his career as an underachieving one. Never worked on the handle and never bulked up to impose his will on defenders

NZ to win at home i reckon

We need Melbourne to help us out They have to be a little off their game.
Limit Casper to 20, Penny or Abercrombie???? to match that and Sosa or Newbill make some big plays down the stretch.
Otherwise Melbourne will close it out comfortably.

I reckon United will win the championship but Vukona, Ili and Newbill play well, it goes to game 3.
NZ at home are hard to stop but beatable.

Hoping NZ can get it done and at least give MU something to think about for game 3.
Both semis ending in sweeps would be bit of a downer.
Also hoping for Penney to have a good one in likely his last home game. What a legend this guy has been.

16-4 start by New Zealand is handy.

Nice 'defence' Tom, but the Oscars are all finished..

God Majok is pathetic

Prather too focused on scoring. Even with that nice spin move, he drew two defenders and got one off his feet and tried for the shot instead of hitting a wide open Majok next to the basket.

Always amusing when the commentators say that Goulding forces shots and they sound surprised. Never watched him play before?

Also commentators whinging about the calls is pathetically amateurish.

United is completely shook.

No longer moving man and ball. They ain't winning the championship at this rate

Scoring has dried up. Momentum shifting to Melbourne. Need Penney in the game?? right now.

Melbourne too good, don't think NZ can recover.

My only question is where is Casey Frank???? Good game but the mute button could get some use soon

What is Rob Loe doing. Two dumb fouls (the 1st Q one on Goulding too where he couldve been called 3 times) and he's lucky he hasn't been ejected already.

Wow... Ugggggllllllleeeeee game so far... If it ends up being Melb vs Adel GF, it will be concerning IF 36ers maintain their high scoring ability against a seriously challenged United offence. Lucky they have a great scrapped in Boone to keep them in touch.

Seems like some fans didn't realise that GM1 was much closer than final margin and NZ let the game slip away like they have so many games this season. As a result, even with a good NZ lead, I still don't have confidence in them to play the way they need to for long enough to close out games....

*scrapper....

Abercrombie completely MIA

Majok is just... omg. What is going on upstairs with that guy?

They call him 'Majok Majok' in case he forgets the first time

Penney aint going to die wondering.

Up by 3
Team loses ball on O
Brainless foul

Go cg43

Yeah but fouling out was a contribution towards game quality

Yeah.

Won game for his team throughout the game.

Then won game in dying fraction of final second with final put back under pressure.

Wow. Boone was huge tonight, on a night where a number of guys on both teams were MIA.

So much irrational hate for Goulding in here. Wares hero ball shot late in the 4th was terrible, not a peep. Goulding takes a real charge from Sosa and no call, not a peep.

Even the homer NZ commentators were able to say he played good D today.

Boone was huge today, he won that game.

Wow what a game

Well Boone and Casper certainly justified their 1st team selections in this series

Was impressed with Goulding's game too. All around game including plenty of quality assists, defensive efforts as well as a few trademark carpark threes.

Could've gone either way so you do feel for NZ a bit. Would've been a bit of romance seeing Penney in a game 3.

Still, United's D got them there, locking down NZ down the stretch of Q4 after it looked like NZ were well placed for victory at one point.

Ultimately that's what I felt of NZ all season- not quite enough classy weapons. Solid team, well drilled, but They didn't quite have the elite talent to get through United's great D.

Adelaide though will present a different- and dare I say it, slightly more formidable- challenge

Christmas -26 in an OT game. Meanwhile, Boone runs rampant for Melbourne. Hard to overcome that difference.

Very entertaining game though!

Boone destroyed Christmas tonight.

Boone was huge. But did he travel on that last possession? Only saw it once at game speed but it looked like he had a few steps/hops in gathering the ball before the shot?

wow - refs are terrible - Goulding and Ware look for a foul every play - offence and defence - was at the game - not sure how much was seen on camera but Goulding and Ware must have been on the floor 30 tims between them - poor Henare - took a technical and the game ends up a tie, but I can see why, as everybody in the stadium was predicting the flop before it happened and refs gave a foul every time - Boone was great - rest of Mel not So - Amercrobie had a terrible shooting night - thought breakers were far the better team - there are hardly any post up moves in NBL - players who cannot defend just hit the floor - leagUe is full of 3 pointer shooters and people giving screens, and guards who can get to the basket (or flop well ha ha - I think any big man import struggles - like netball or disney on ice compared to the NBA. I think PER VS MEL would have been physical and MEL vs ADL will b a high scoring shootout. Rant over - feel agreeved nearly every week with the refs.

LV - 36ers a "slightly more formidable" challenge (assuming they make the GF)? I would suggest increasing the strength of the adjective used to describe how formidable the challenge will be ;P

Is it possible for a team to 'limp to the championship'?

If so, that's United.

Hate this result. Melbourne give us fits should we make the gf. They seem to have our number most of the time.

"Ultimately that's what I felt of NZ all season- not quite enough classy weapons. Solid team, well drilled, but They didn't quite have the elite talent to get through United's great D."

Big difference was Abercrombie stopped hitting shots after a very good start to the year. He shot 41% from 3pt in wins and 23% in losses. In the six-game losing streak to end the year he was 3/21 and 8/48 in last 12 games!

They couldn't survive losing his input. Without him spreading the floor their offence was very different, especially in fourth quarters where he has been big for them in recent years.

With Penney injured for much of the run home they just didn't have the wing power they did early in the year.

Given that, signing Christmas was probably the biggest thing that held them back, in hindsight they needed a more versatile player.

That Breakers start to the Game reminded me of that Fremantle Dockers 'purple wall' prelim game against the Sydney Swans in 2013.

Amazing D. As good a period of intense D as you've seen from Perth at any point in the last decade

Boone and his last basket.

He just imposed his will on the game and forced that sucker into the hoop. I thought it was a good microcosm of his whole game last night... and all his good games.

He doesn't have length or reliable foul shooting.

He does have strength, power, hops and a determined persistence to finish off near the basket. Boone is a colossus in the paint. Is there any other centre/ pf with this combo in the same quantity?

If ADL win, they could try Childress on him for crafty D. Childress could strip the ball a few times and lower his confidence levels. When Childress tires, bring on Hodgson for close guarding with hard fouls, not his usual stupid fouls. Wear him down. Johnson too soft except on rare occasions.

That Newbill foul seemed smart at the time, but if he didn't commit it I'm not sure Melbourne would've got a particularly good look off.

I was surprised that people thought it was a good foul. 2.7 seconds to go, Ware's only option was to attempt a 3 pointer under immense pressure.

Regarding the Newbill foul, you have got to play the %'s and make that play. Granted it didn't work out for NZ ultimately but fouling Ware in that instance was the right thing to do. Great call by the MU players on that last inbound play too. It looked like they called it themselves without going to Vickerman. Great leadership by Vickerman to let them do that too. Overall, a fantastic game by both teams and a tremendous advert for the league.

Yeah good point Paul. Abercrombie certainly started well and then faded this year. Newbill turned out a lot better than I expected based on his modest resume, but with Penney slowing down and Abercrombie horribly out of form by year end, this made up for it.

I thought they needed more mobility from their bigs and this was evident in different ways in each game- Game 1 being exposed on the pick and rolls and also Casper taking them to the hoop. And Game 2 where they kept losing Boone on his cuts around the hoop.

Maybe if Delaney was fit they would've had more options. Also surprised they kept Christmas and sat Pledger so long yesterday.

Ultimately it's about playing well at this time of year. I'm glad we got a tight series as predicted.

Yes , great game , enjoyed it ..
(other than abercrombie disappointment .. didn't look like scoring....)

Melbourne now get a very decent break going into the GF series. If the other semi series goes to 3 games it stretches out even longer.

Anon, its not a Melbourne thing. The NBL doesn't get much exposure, period.
In fairness, the win last night got a good run on the Herald Sun and a few other news outlets.

A couple colleagues at work who don't know anything about basketball have come up to me saying, 'i heard Melbourne won last night'

But yes, even if Melbourne win, they won't be plastered on the front pages. Probably only Cairns and Perth could do that.

I still hate the fact that Melbourne United sounds like the local soccer team.

Penny! Class act......

Awesome game, done and dusted, but am still disappointed this didn't go to a game 3! Credit 2 individual performances that killed the Breakers, really did sum up their season - started so well (both games), only to fall flat at the final siren. Really think the Breakers 'forgot how to win', no killer instinct - last 5-6 games they were up and 4th quarters killed them.

End of regulation Sosa trying to be the hero, had Loe open on Ware and on the rebound a wide open Penny who had been on fire! Were they better going for the Ili drive? Goulding charge or flop?

Thought Christmas did some nice things, but was a liability in OT and Boone's final putback... on replay I thought he did travel - but impossible for refs to call that!

Now to decide who to support for finals!!