Both teams got off to uncharacteristically sluggish starts as far as their shooting accuracy was concerned, particularly from out the arc as two of the competition's three best three-point shooters (both behind South East Melbourne Phoenix) missed the first 12 attempts of the game combined.
The 36ers, who arrived at the venue 40 minutes late due to traffic jams around the precinct, showed no signs of a disrupted preparation outside of their shooting inaccuracy, showing a defensive intensity befitting of a team that was conceding little more than 80 points per game in NBL26 heading into today.
United found it especially difficult to get into the paint in the opening quarter and were forced into eight early shots for three, missing the first seven before 37-year-old veteran Chris Goulding landed their first.
Goulding would become a focal point of the second quarter with a couple of key buckets, firing up late in the term after coming face-to-face with Adelaide 36ers head coach Mike Wells during an altercation in which Wells appeared to have accused Goulding of flopping.
The United veteran, in his 17th season NBL season as a former Melbourne Tiger, stared straight in the direction of Wells after sinking a crucial three-pointer late in the second term to give Melbourne a three-point half-time lead.
Melbourne head coach Dean Vickerman opted to throw 17-year-old Next Star Dash Daniels on league MVP Bryce Cotton in the second quarter but Daniels found himself outclassed by the NBL's most intelligent and game-aware player, who had a game-high 15 points to half-time.
The home side went on an 8-2 run in the third quarter and threatened to pull away but wasted their opportunities with a 28% field goal shooting percentage in the third term, including four from nine at the free throw line.
Spurred on by their ability to pull back and keep the three-quarter time deficit to four points, Adelaide came out of the blocks in the final term and generated a significant momentum swing with a 13-6 run in the first half of the final term, scoring from a couple of forced turnovers along the way.
Milton Doyle missed a simple lay-up shortly thereafter to go 1 from 8 for field-goals and Adelaide stretched the lead out to six through Zylan Cheatham's second three-pointer of the afternoon.
United held on late in the game but struggled to restore parity thanks to a couple of contentious foul calls, leaving Dean Vickerman to rue squandering his coach's challenge on an out-of-bounds call with just 2.5 seconds on the short clock earlier in the game.
With the game clock ticking down from 90 seconds, Melbourne struck gold with a clutch three from Milton Doyle and one-two between Finn Delany and Jesse Edwards in the space of 15 seconds to turn a four-point deficit into a one-point lead.
36ers captain DJ Vasiljevic came good with a very deep three in the final minute of the game and had the opportunity to sink the game-winning basket with a buzzer beater but missed the final shot of the match.
The hero for United would be American guard Tyson Walker, who hit just his second three-pointer from 21 attempts after cleaning up a spilled rebound from Jesse Edwards with just 2.5 seconds remaining in the game.
United have equalled their best start to an NBL season in team history, matching their 9-0 run on the way to the minor premiership in 2015/16, whilst the 36ers head home as undeserving losers.
