Star Boomers guard Patty Mills announced his arrival to the NBL in style by leading Melbourne past Sydney 82-76 in the season opener at The Cage on Friday night.
Mills, who signed with the Tigers while the NBA lockout keeps his American team Portland off the court, scored a game-high 28 points, going 6-for-11 from three-point range and added three assists.
Fellow guard and former Gold Coast star Ayinde Ubaka scored 22 points on debut for Melbourne, while Tigers big man Cameron Tragardh had 14 points and nine rebounds.
The Kings, who learnt on Friday morning that NBA star Andrew Bogut would not be joining the club due to insurance issues, led by as much as 12 in the final quarter and looked to have it sewn up.
But Mills drained 3-of-5 from downtown in the last period, while Ubaka and Ron Dorsey added long-range points of their own, to drag the Tigers back into it.
Down 70-62 with 4:30 to play, a Tragardh put-back followed by an Ubaka lay-up began an onslaught that reclaimed the lead with a little over a minute remaining.
Melbourne completed a 33-17 final quarter to open its campaign with a fighting victory.
Sydney centre Julian Khazzouh had an 18-point, 14-rebound double-double to lead the visitors on the scoreboard, while Jerai Grant added 16.
Tags: nbl, basketball, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, sydney-2000, nsw, australia First posted October 07, 2011 21:30:47
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