THERE’S a buzz about the NBL not felt since Gaze was throwing alley oops to Copeland.
And most of that is being caused by the unbeaten star studded line up balling out of its mind in Melbourne.
Testament to the top of the table United side’s dominance, the crafty crew over at sportsbet.com.au have released a market on whether or not they will go through the season undefeated.
Currently at 9-0, United is a juicy $9 to make it to round 10 or later without tasting defeat.
Only six teams stand in their way between now and then, but they are a very skinny $187 to lose this week away at the Cairns Taipans on Friday night.
Even though the game is up north, we don’t think the Taipans, winners of just three games this season, stand a chance.
They stay up north next week against Townsville, and are $4.75 to lose there.
But we think the $7.50 about the New Zealand Breakers to inflict United’s first loss is very, very juicy. United has to cross the ditch after two games in Queensland and will take on a side that pushed them to within a point at Hisense Arena, just last weekend.
“Melbourne United are pushing their luck but it’s going to take a special performance to beat them this season,” the bookie’s Christian Jantzen said.
Against the Breakers on Sunday, some of the best basketball seen on and NBL court was traded between the title favourites and last year’s champion.
In the end though, there could only be one winner and the home side kept its perfect record in tact thanks to an 87-86 win.
But it didn’t come without controversy.
Australian basketball legends, including Andrew Gaze, were left seething after an unsportsmanlike foul was called moments after the Breakers had earned a foul. Both sides went to the line, with the Breakers making one of two, before star Chris Goulding potted both, then retained possession and import Stephen Holt drew the foul, went to the line and sealed the game.
The contact between Webster and Goulding was minimal at best and it left many scratching their heads.
“It was a shocking, shocking way for a game to end in basketball,” Gaze said.
“What a shemozzle, that is just umpires not understanding the spirit of the game, the way it should be played and that is just an unfortunate mistake, they’ve made a bad mistake.”
After the match, United coach Dean Demopoulos agreed his team had been fortunate in victory.
“I just think collectively as a group we had horse shoes up our arses, which means you’re lucky, we were lucky,” Demopoulos said.
“As much as I love coming out on top I don’t like doing it like that.
Breakers coach Dean Vickerman could not believe the decision was not reviewed, while assistant coach Paul Henare, perhaps fearful of retribution, did his best to steer clear when asked about it by reporters.
“I’m not going to comment on it at this stage,” Henare said.
“I’m sure plenty of other people will have a view on what happened.
“I’m not going to say robbed.
“The boys are just disappointed we lost that game.
“We played well enough to win and unfortunately at the end it didn’t go for us.
“We’ll have to take that one on the chin and use that for a little bit of fuel on the fire later on.”
Whatever happened, the game is in the record books as a win to united, thanks largely to Goulding and Holt, both of whom scored 21 each. Towering big man Majok Majok ripped down another 10 boards and Garrett Jackson, signed to cover for injured NBA man Hakim Warrick, dropped 10 points off the bench.
They survived a 16 point 14 rebound 10 assist triple double from superstar Cedric Jackson and 24 points from 200 gamer Thomas Abercrombie, but were very lucky to do so.
A big part of the reason Melbourne is yet to lose is Goulding, who has come in from $7 to $2.70 favourite to take out the competition’s Most Valuable Player Award.
He’s averaging 20.33 points and just under 3.5 assists and rebounds per game, drilling several clutch shots in the process as United’s team leader.
But there is a guy in Illawarra who is absolutely ripping the league to shreds.
Towering centre AJ Ogilvy has dominated every game he has played in, even if the Hawks have only gone 4-4.
in just 25 minutes a night, the is dropping nearly 20 points and 10 boards to go with almost two blocks and 1.5 steals.
And he had an absolute monster against the Taipans, almost single handedly leading his side to a 96-88 win.
Ogilvy was unstoppable with 36 points 11 rebounds, two steals and a block to hear the MVP chants.
Coach Rob Beveridge lauded his star.
“Sometimes we have to get the ball inside to AJ,” Beveridge said.
“He doesn’t always go one on one.
“He is a great passer and we got a lot of his points through second efforts, tip ins and rebounding.
“He is a pretty tough match up inside but he is a fair player.
“He is not a hog and it is going to make it better for the perimeter players.”
Apart from those two, its impossible to rule out Jackson at $6, equal with Ogilvy’s quote.
A smokey might be Julian Khazzouh with the Sydney Kings. The big man has been beasting in Sydney, but he is hampered by the fact the Kings simply haven’t been able to put it together and, at present, are propping up the league, despite the fact they have used NBA talent in Josh Childress and replaced him with Al Harrington when he got injured.
NBL markets
When will Melbourne United have its first loss for the 2015/16 season?
Round 6 v Cairns Taipans (away) ($1.87)
Round 7 v Townsville Crocodiles (away) ($4.75)
Round 7 v New Zealand Breakers (away) ($7.50)
Round 8 v Townsville Crocodiles (home) ($21)
Round 9 v Illawarra Hawks (home) ($19)
Round 9 v Adelaide 36ers (away) ($11)
Round 10 or later/No loss ($9)
NBL title winner
New Zealand Breakers ($4.50)
Perth Wildcats ($4.50)
Illawarra Hawks ($7)
Adelaide 36ers ($11)
Cairns Taipans ($15)
Sydney Kings ($23)
Townsville Crocodiles ($101)
NBL Most Valuable Players
AJ Ogilvy ($6)
Cedric Jackson ($6)
Corey Webster ($9.50)
Stephen Holt ($12)
Daniel Johnson ($14)
Julian Khazzouh ($20)
Kirk Penney ($21)
Brian Conklin ($23)
Josh Childress ($23)
All odds provided by Sportsbet.com.au
