They say when you come at the King you best not miss.
Melbourne United aimed at NBL leader Adelaide 36ers and their shots were true in a thumping 104-73 New Year's Day win.
![Melbourne United's Casper Ware drives to the basket against Jerome Randle of the Adelaide 36ers.](/web/20170101150928im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/k/h/x/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtkewg.png/1483261890404.jpg)
The Sixers came into the State Netball and Hockey Centre with eight straight wins and the crown as NBL championship favourite sitting comfortably on their heads.
But Melbourne guards Casper Ware (30 points, seven assists, no turnovers) and Chris Goulding (20 points) came out with intent to take on Sixers' stars Jerome Randle (21 points, seven assists, six turnovers) and Nathan Sobey (two points, four assists) while the rest of their team were firmly focused on defending and attacking in a ruthless manner.
Melbourne shot 51 per cent from the field and made 13 of 33 three-point attempts while giving up just seven turnovers compared to 21 from the Sixers who shot 41 per cent from the field.
Forget about the carpark @CWARE22 drops one in from @HisenseArena #NBL17 #Yourgame pic.twitter.com/8WLUejXDHk
— NBL (@NBL) January 1, 2017
"Casper, Todd [Blanchfield] and Majok got us off to a good start and it eases that scoring pressure," Goulding said.
"So we could go through stretches where we played really good defence and rebounded well, not so much in the first half, but in the second half, as you see we won the third quarter 16-8 – that's pretty good defence.
"When we can do those things and get stops, it allows us to come down that other end feeling a bit better and we have some weapons that can capitalise on that."
Adelaide coach Joey Wright said his side's bad game stemmed from 10 days off and their inability to lift on game day.
"We didn't do most of the little things, we didn't get up and deny, we had a lot of unforced turnovers where we just threw the ball away," Wright said.
"We didn't play with any passion, our response to them making big plays, or making any plays, was pretty much neutral body language.
"We wasn't there tonight."
Wright added he wasn't surprised Melbourne's stars turned on their best.
"Not at all – they have four or five guys who make enough money to hit those shots," Wright said.
Ware's drive and dish to Majok Majok for the opening basket was a statement of intent as he took on fellow import Randle at both ends with the league's leading scorer having to work doubly hard for every possession.
Randle wasn't daunted though and his full-speed crossover and three-point play was as good as anything Ware produced on the night but the former NBA guard had the best of their match-up.
A 15-3 start was Melbourne's reward and while the Sixers had the game back to 33-27 midway through the second term, Ware scored again before Goulding and Tai Wesley followed up with baskets of their own.
Goulding ended the first half on fire nailing an audacious, long three over the outstretched hand of Sixers centre Eric Jacobsen to see the home side up 60-43.
.@ChrisGoulding43 From the @ChemistWhouse AGAIN. #NBL17 #YourGame pic.twitter.com/Yal2VxXeJu
— NBL (@NBL) January 1, 2017
The third term was more of the same as Goulding started off with a long three while Josh Boone and Wesley continued to score and rebound inside.
Ware went between surgically slicing holes in the Sixers' defence to becoming Freddy Krueger and ripping them apart, his one-hand, look-off pass to Boone was the highlight as Melbourne went 76-51 up at three-quarter-time.
Sixers captain Mitch Creek scored eight points to open the fourth quarter forcing Melbourne into a time out but it was to no avail as the home side gathered itself.
Ware's driving and dishing to Boone led to a two-hand power dunk.
Ware followed with even more brilliance with a long three and pull up two before a curtain call with two minutes to play.
Adelaide can't be ruled out as a serious contender but while Ware is leading Melbourne United, they have to be in the discussion too.
There isn't a new NBL king yet, but the crown isn't sitting as easy as it was.
Melbourne have now won three-straight games. They visit Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong on Saturday night.
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