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MELBOURNE flexed its NBL Championship muscles today, inflicting a virtual go-to-whoa tale of woe on Tasmania in Game 1 of the best-of-five Grand Final, Chris Goulding leading a long-range missile bombardment which sent the JackJumpers down into the bunker in a smouldering 104-81 heap. 

To crawl out of it, as the Ants no doubt will, in Game 2 they will have to limit Goulding (22 points, 6-of-10 threes), Ian Clark (18 points, 3-of-5 threes) - both guards shooting it at 58 percent - and Matthew Dellavedova (11 points, 3-of-5 threes, six assists) tearing them a new one from the perimeter where United was a combined 14-of-28.

They also will need Marcus Lee (2 points, 1-of-5 shooting, 3 rebounds) to actually show up wanting the ball, and for Will Magnay (10 points, 3-of-3 shooting, five rebounds) to not only practice his free throw shooting (4-of-10) but play somewhat smarter than he did in the series opener.

That said, his offensive foul at 7:38 in the second quarter when he caught the shoulder of Melbourne's Kyle Bowen - who then went to ground in a manner even Jesse Wagstaff would have found embarrassing - was avoidable, after all.

In a Grand Final, it should have been a no-call but not only did Bowen's performance earn him the call, it infuriated Magnay sufficiently to chastise him for it.

Enter referee Michael Aylen with a complete and total over-reaction, issuing Magnay with a technical foul when a "calm down" warning would have been more than ample. It's the championship. Everyone is tense, excited, emotional and a ref of Aylen's experience should have done better.

(When Clark later taunted Anthony Drmic, there was barely a warning. And that's how it should have been, albeit NOT after a precedent was set.)

Tasmania was ahead 32-30 when Magnay copped his double-dose of despair after it was 32-28 out on an increasingly rare Jordon Crawford 3-pointer.

Coincidentally it was Aylen calling Magnay for his third foul minutes later when he and Jo Lual-Acuil held each other in a rebounding situation. Again, a no-call at best when it is 50-50 like that and occurs on virtually every second rebound.

Instead it sent Magnay out of relevance as Clark (tech FT), Ariel Hukporti and Goulding with a swish three pushed United out 36-32.

Complementing their great defensive pressure with aggressive offence, consecutive Lual-Acuil dunks, then a Luke Travers dunk had United rolling, the Jackies' defensive flaws brutally exposed. 

Ahead 51-41 at halftime, Melbourne maintained its pressure and Tasmania was caught in an all-game chase of catch-up basketball, Jack McVeigh eliminated as a factor, Milton Doyle neutralised, Crawford still in his funk and Sean MacDonald now second guessing himself.

Only Drmic, who shot a season-high 18 points at 67 percent with 3-of-3 threes, offered consistent offensive resistance, Lual-Acuil, Hukporti, Clark and Bowen setting up United's substantial 52-37 rebounding rout.

That edge also contributed to a whopping 18 Melbourne points off fast breaks to zero from the JJs. The further this went, the worse it was for Tassie but it has plenty to work on ahead of Game 2.

NBL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Best-of-5 Grand Final)

Game 1: MELBOURNE UNITED 104 (Goulding 22, Lual-Acuil 20, Clark 18, Dellavedova 11; Lual-Acuil 11 rebs; Dellavedova 6 assts) d TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 81 (Drmic 18, Doyle 16, McVeigh 13, Magnay 10; Doyle 8 rebs; MacDonald, McVeigh 3 assts) at John Cain Arena. Crowd: 9,108

United leads series 1-0, Game 2 Friday in Hobart