The NBL’s historic 40th season has kicked off with a bang Thursday night as the predicted champions Melbourne United stood up under some intense Adelaide pressure, winning 97-99 at Titanium Security Arena.

Melbourne, inspired by the occasion had a blockbusting 40-point third quarter behind some sweet three-point shooting and masterful playmaking from Casper Ware.

But Adelaide rode the wave and continued to make the visitors sweat, bridging the gap to within a single point in the last after United looked to blow the game open in the third term.

A Mitch Creek slam with five minutes left got the crowd into hysterics, as it went tit for tat down the stretch. Adelaide were down three with 14 seconds remaining and missed a potential game tying shot as Anthony Drmic pulled up from the corner.

It was the unfortunate dismissal of Adelaide’s import bigman Ronald Roberts midweek due to a knee injury that became arguably the deciding factor as they were outdone 52-41 on the boards; Melbourne had 27 second chance points to Adelaide’s 11.

Melbourne superstar Chris Goulding sat the opener out with suspected appendicitis.

Box Score

Full Game Highlights

Adelaide Press Conference Audio
Adelaide Press Conference Vision (Joey Wright and Nathan Sobey)

Melbourne Press Conference Audio
Melbourne Press Conference Vision (Dean Vickerman and Casey Prather)