“YOU come at the king, you best not miss”.

The quote from the TV show “The Wire” rang true on Sunday when Brisbane failed to take their opportunities and suffered a 102-94 loss at the hands of relentless reigning NBL champions Melbourne United.

United have made Melbourne Arena a genuine fortress and claimed their 17th win from their last 19 home games with a second-half surge to finish over the top of the Bullets, who fell to their third-straight defeat and a win-loss record of 4-6.

To beat the United in Melbourne, you have to be near-perfect. Brisbane were not and had to cop the consequences.

You cannot commit 15 turnovers, lose the rebounding count and get into foul trouble and expect to beat the deep and talented United outfit who were a bit too big, too strong and too classy when it counted.

Brisbane produced a sizzling second term, outscoring United 24-18 to take a slender one-point cushion into the halftime with imports Stephen Holt (11 points) and Lamar Patterson (10 points) to the fore with hot hands for the plucky visitors.

However, they both added just one point each to their tallies as they were intermittently used after the main break as Adam Gibson (19 points) and Cam Gliddon (16 points) took on the scoring duties for the Bullets who trailed by two points at three quarter-time.

Led by import guard Casper Ware (23 points, six assists), recalled Boomers forward David Barlow (18 points) and captain Chris Goulding (16 points), Melbourne seized the momentum in the final term to secure their sixth win from their last seven outings and cement second place on the ladder.

Brisbane had their chances to eat into Melbourne’s advantage in the run home but were unable to knock down critical shots or threw the ball away at important times to let United off the hook.

Gibson’s team-high haul follows the sharpshooting 17 points from the last-second loss to New Zealand last Sunday with the 2012 Olympian providing a great spark off the bench with five three-pointers from eight attempts against United.

His backcourt comrade and Boomers starting point guard Jason Cadee had an afternoon to forget with zero points after taking just two shots, including one airball from beyond the arc.

Reuben Te Rangi added weight to his claims for the NBL’s Most Improved Player award with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists for Brisbane, who now face Illawarra on Thursday night in the last round before the NBL breaks for the FIBA World Cup qualifying window.

Brisbane will take on Melbourne twice in the space of three days when the NBL resumes in December.