Melbourne United will take on two-time defending champions Perth in the NBL grand final series after coming back from 17 points down to defeat cross-town rivals South East Melbourne Phoenix 84-74 in their semi-final decider.
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United dominated the second half of Tuesday's elimination clash at Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena with stifling defence and a standout performance from gun forward Jock Landale to crush South East Melbourne's hopes of reaching the championship round in just their second season.
The Wildcats will host the first two games of the best-of-five series, starting on Friday night at RAC Arena, with United expected to play the remaining matches at Melbourne's John Cain Arena.
After being a non-factor in United's 11-point loss to the Phoenix in game two, Landale bounced back in imposing fashion by making 11-of-13 shots on his way to a 27-point haul to lead the minor premiers to their third grand-final berth in the past four seasons.
"My mentality in this game was just to come in, let things play out the way they did and not force anything," Landale said after foul trouble saw him leave game two with just five points in 13 minutes.
"I just tried to stay on the floor as much as I could and the guys helped me through that, they helped me just keep level-headed."
United captain Chris Goulding added 14 points in his 350th national league game while Mitch McCarron stepped up in the second half to finish with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
The upstart Phoenix stunned the title favourites by surging ahead 32-15 early in the second quarter but Landale kickstarted United's revival with a three-pointer then added two more triples to finish with 11 points for the quarter and cut the Phoenix advantage to 45-40 at halftime.
United then turned the screws at the defensive end as they held South East Melbourne to 12 points in the third period, Goulding giving his side their first lead of the night with a pair of free throws late in the quarter.
Holding a 58-57 edge heading into the final term, Melbourne scored the opening six points to grab the momentum and Goulding landed the killer blow with three minutes to play by sinking United's first fourth-quarter triple for the series.
Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell expressed a lot of pride in his squad for their efforts over the season.
"I can't fault anything we did there - we weren't clean, we didn't play exceptionally well but that's playoff basketball," Mitchell said.
"You're not always going to be at your best and you've just got to find a way to hang in. We bent but we didn't break until the final bell."
Australian Associated Press
