Bullets fall to United in front of record crowd

Melbourne United continue to be one the team the Brisbane Bullets haven't overcome, but it was a night with positives with the largest ever crowd turning out at Nissan Arena in the second last home game of NBL24.

It was a sold out crowd that turned out on Friday evening to watch the Bullets host United in Round 17 of the NBL with the 5291 in attendance setting a new record to watch their team play at Nissan Arena.

Unfortunately they didn’t get to see a victory for the home team, with Melbourne winning 93-77 to make it 11 consecutive victories against Brisbane including all three this season.

The Bullets have managed to beat every other team this season and with a 12-13 record with three games to go, they do remain inside the top six with three rounds to go.

Bullets captain Nathan Sobey once again top-scored with 19 points to go with three rebounds, three assists and two steals on the back of shooting 10/13 at the free-throw line.

Sam McDaniel chimed in with 12 points and four rebounds, with Casey Prather getting his first start for the Bullets in the absence of Josh Bannan for nine points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in over 23 minutes.

Tyrell Harison finished with nine points and eight rebounds, Aron Baynes contributed six points and four boards and Chris Smith added six points.

Jo Lual-Acuil ended up with a career-high 33 points and 13 rebounds for Melbourn,e with Chris Goulding adding 23 points on 6/12 three-point shooting.

The signs were encouraging early on from Casey Prather making his first start for the Bullets with a couple of early buckets, but Melbourne started feeling good with four triples in the opening quarter to end up leading 21-13 by quarter-time.

Brisbane was then able to score four of the first six points of the second period to close the deficit to four, but a couple of threes to Chris Goulding helped Melbourne push the lead out to 11 points.

Prather responded with five quick points for the Bullets and that helped to start a run of 9-2 for the home team and the margin was back to just three heading towards half-time.

However, Melbourne responded again to finish the half with a 9-2 run to see the visitors lead 50-39 at the break on the back of shooting 50 per cent from the field to 42 from Brisbane, and going 6/12 from downtown opposed to 1/8 from the Bullets.

The Bullets were again able to start the second half in encouraging fashion and a three-pointer from Mitch Norton had the margin back to eight points.

Later in the third quarter and Sobey brought it back to seven at the foul line, but United kept on having the answers and still led 73-59 by three quarter-time.

Melbourne pushed that out to a 20-point lead early in the fourth frame but a couple of Brisbane three-pointers to Sam McDaniel and Sobey had the home team back within 15.

The Bullets couldn't quite make a charge, though, despite another triple late from McDaniel and a throwdown from Rocco Zikarsky with Melbourne winning by 16.

The Bullets now have just three games of the season remaining with a game each over the final three rounds. That begins next Saturday night away to the Illawarra Hawks.

That's followed by the last home game of the season at Nissan Arena against the Adelaide 36ers on Friday February 9 and then the final match is on the road to the New Zealand Breakers the following Friday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 17

BRISBANE BULLETS 77 (Sobey 19, McDaniel 12, Prather 9, Harrison 9)

MELBOURNE UNITED 93 (Lual-Acuil 33, Goulding 23, Dellavedova 8)

BOX SCORE