Round 12 NBL serves up seven big games over Easter.
Can we make the long weekend a profitable one with a fill-up on Basketball at the local level?
Read on in our tips and preview.
With both teams currently in playoff contention, Thursday night’s clash between the 3rd placed Illawarra Hawks and the 4th placed South East Melbourne Phoenix looms as a potential finals preview.
After spending much time on the road this season, Brian Goorjian’s Hawks are back home and managed to easily take care of the Brisbane Bullets on Monday night with a convincing 96-72 win.
South East Melbourne Phoenix was thrashed by Melbourne United in the Throwdown 60-80 on Saturday night, however, their star player Mitch Creek (somewhat controversial ) will return to the side for the match and will want to attain themselves from their humiliating defeat. It would be the first loss for the Phoenix after a five-game winning streak.
The prospect of being booted out of the top 4 playoff contention looms for both sides, so we should be in for a terrific contest.
However, with the Hawks back home, you simply can’t go past them in this one. They open the betting as narrow favourites ($1.80) with the Phoenix the $2 underdog.
I’ll take the home team at the line.
The Sydney Kings head out west for which they will see the Wildcats 2020 default premiership banner hanging off the rafters at RAC Arena.
They will also get a second shot at the Perth Wildcats in a matter of days after going down to them 65-89 on their home court on Sunday.
Can they do it?
Well, no.
The Wildcats are currently on a seven-game winning streak and look unstoppable right now.
As much as you’d like to barrack for the story of the Kings upsetting the Wildcats on their home court and ending their winning streak, I just can’t see it happening.
Rule number 1 of NBL punting – never, ever back against the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena.
Wildcats 11+ points is as good as it gets for me.
Tipping this match on Good Friday is pretty straight-forward.
The second-placed Melbourne United hosts the bottom of the table Cairns Taipans in the first of two games these sides will play in NBL Round 12.
After a bit of a rough patch, Melbourne United appear to have gotten their season back on track winning their last three games and will take plenty of confidence after dishing out a 20 point belting to South East Melbourne Phoenix in the Throwdown.
The Taipans managed to chalk up a rare win with a 79-65 defeat of the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday night, but playing Melbourne United at John Cain Arena is a different beast.
Melbourne United will win this, it’s just a matter of how.
These two sides have met only once so far this NBL season when Melbourne United won a thriller 88-81 back in February to start the NBL Cup.
With it getting down to the business end of the NBL season and United shifting up a gear, I’m expecting a pretty one-sided affair.
Take Melbourne United at the 11+ point margin, and spoiler alert: I’m expecting the same result when these two sides meet on Easter Sunday.
The Sydney Kings will have just 48 hours to back it up from a trip to Perth to face the Brisbane Bullets who have spent the entire week in New South Wales due to the lockdown in the Sunshine State.
After what was an impressive stint in the NBL Cup, the Bullets have lost their guard a bit losing their past two matches and were thrashed by the Illawarra Hawks on Monday night 96-72.
Fresh legs will be an advantage for the Bullets in this game and with both teams knocking on the door of playoff contention, it should be a good contest.
Assuming that the Kings lost to Perth on Thursday, they’ll be desperate to get home and get back on the winner’s list.
Take the Sydney Kings at the 1-10 point margin.
Another quick turnaround for the Illawarra Hawks, who will play their second match for Round 12 against the 36ers in Adelaide on Saturday night.
Tipping this is pretty straight forward.
Adelaide has lost their past five matches, Illawarra is getting things back into gear, and depending on Thursday’s clash against the Phoneix will either desperately need to get back on the winner’s list or look to make it two games straight.
At the time of publishing, it’s a pretty good betting contest.
The Hawks are the $1.80 favourites and should be able to bank the win in this one.
The Breakers have been a bit hit and miss this season, and will very much be underdogs going into this game.
Paying $2.90 head to head, it’s probably a bit too much to back them outright and the line betting for this game wasn’t confirmed at the time of publishing.
With Mitch Creek controversially back in the South East Melbourne Phoenix squad, and the Nix backing it up from Friday night, the Breakers will have fresh legs. They should win.
But given the context of this match, this is one of the rare ones we’ll give this one a hard pass.
Refer to preview for good Friday for the preview of this game
The only difference is that it is being played in Cairns.
Melbourne United will win this one, just like they will on Good Friday.