Melbourne United have reaffirmed their status as NBL title favourites with Chris Goulding and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr the stars in a tough 92-83 victory over city rivals South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Former NBA guard John Wall and tennis ace Nick Kyrgios were part of the Phoenix ownership group sitting courtside in a sold-out 10,175-strong crowd at John Cain Arena on Sunday - the largest attendance in the club's short history.
But they left disappointed as Goulding landed six three-point daggers amid a game-high 27 points and Lual-Acuil (26 points, 11 rebounds) contributed a double-double to send Melbourne (9-2) clear on top of the ladder.
United guard Shea Ili (12 points, four assists) was important despite finding foul trouble and Flynn Cameron put up 14 points off the bench, including 4-for-6 shooting from long range.
A depleted United line-up stood tall without sidelined stars Matthew Dellavedova (calf), Luke Travers (head knock) and Ian Clark (hamstring).
"Other people can step in to keep the identity of who we want to be," Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said.
"It was always going to be (about) could we get Jo (Lual-Acuil) and CG (Goulding) really effective shots.
"But I thought they both hunted the great shots that we wanted from them tonight and everybody was willing to accept that.
"We could've easily rolled over a little bit at different times but this group just had an absolute hunger to keep gutting it out."
Neither side led by more than a single-figure margin throughout a tight encounter as Melbourne left the door open with poor shooting from the charity stripe (16-for-26).
Star import Alan Williams had 14 points and seven rebounds for South East Melbourne but was 0-for-5 from the field in the crucial fourth period before fouling out for the third straight game.
Mitch Creek (19 points) starred early with 14 first-half points but struggled to have an impact on the offensive end after half-time.
Craig Moller (12 points, nine rebounds) and Gary Browne (16 points) helped keep the Phoenix in it after halftime until Lual-Acuil shut the gate with a big final few minutes.
Coach Mike Kelly lamented an "inconsistent" display that left South East Melbourne (6-5) stuck in a congested pack chasing their ladder-leading rivals.
"I'm not too stressed offensively but I do think the defence needs to be a constant buy-in from the guys," Kelly said.
"I can talk about it, and other guys can talk about it, but we just need to consistently demand it. We're not there yet.
"I guess I'd probably say this if we were the best team in the competition too, I would say that I'm happy but we're not as good as we can be.
"I can't wait until that day happens."
