The following is a preview with betting tips for game 1 of the grand-final series between the Perth Wildcats and Melbourne United in the 2018/19 NBL season.
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Friday, March 8
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Perth Wildcats v Melbourne United10:20pm AEDT |
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Well, well, well, here with are with only the very best of the very best after a simply enthralling NBL campaign of just past. Cotton & Kay have been the dynamic duo that led Perth to the NO.1 spot on the ladder as they simply crushed their opponents in the process. And on the other end of the spectrum you have a quick-fire United team led by Casper Ware and his partners-in-crime DJ and Chris Goulding. Both teams won 18 regular season matches and both sides have won Championships very, very recently. They are both legit threats to win it again in this Grand Final Series. But only one team can prevail. Will it be the defence orientated Wildcats or the offence focused Melbourne? We’ll all just have to wait and find out.
In their last game the Wildcats overcame a gutsy Brisbane side by only five points, 84-79. Q1 ended by five points in Perth’s favour. Q2 also saw them victorious 24-21. Brisbane won by a point in Q3. And Q4 also saw the opposition be victorious 17-15. But Perth were strong enough and solid enough when it mattered to hold on and win their series by a two games to zero score-line. White scored 24 points, Cotton had 19 and Kay 16. Both Brandt and Martin had eight points a piece in the hotly contested battle. White had four from deep as he also had three boards. Cotton only conceded two personal fouls as he also had two rebounds and an awesome ten assists! Talk about making your team-mates better! Kay also had a steal in addition to his huge 15 boards. Brandt also had three boards and Martin four dimes.
It should also be noted that Perth kept Cadee to 0/6 and Patterson to only 2/8 from three-point range. Gliddon was also kept to only 10 points and Te Rangi a single point from his over 19 minutes of play. And in United’s game against Sydney, Randle shot only 1/15 as he was locked down! Newley was kept to 3/9 for only nine points. Bowen was only 2/6 and Kickert 1/4. Both sides in their respective games shut down some big-time players and it was reflected in the stats column and on the score-sheet. Defence, defence, defence!
As for United they, just like Perth, also won their series 2-0 as they killed the Kings by 22 points in their first game and by 14 in the second. They won 90-76 in G2 as they kept the Kings to only 16 points in Q2 while they scored 20. Melbourne also posted 22 points in Q1. And they kept Sydney to a combined 36 points in Q3 & Q4 (18 in each). During those periods Melbourne posted 25 and 23 points respectively. Ware had 30! And Goulding 23 of the pine! Both players lit it up in this game! McCarron and Kennedy also posted 10 points a piece while Boone had eight. Ware also had five boards and one dime. Goulding posted one rebound, three assists and one steal. McCarron had six boards and five dimes. And Kennedy hit all three of his FT’s for seven rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Goulding is the key to this game. He tore the Kings to shreds from the perimeter in G2 and he will do so to Perth and make them his next victim if they don’t guard him tightly. Man can get hot from three and very, very quickly at that. He made three threes against Sydney in G2. And he converted on five in G1. For the campaign he’s shooting extremely well at 36.0% from deep. If he can get his points of the bench then he will make life hell for the Wildcats second unit. And if he’s firing away and hitting them at a consistent rate then that will go a long, long way towards Melbourne claiming the first scalp of what should be a very closely contested and fought series of Grand Final Basketball.
Betting tip: Pick Melbourne to win G1 at $2.35 (BetEasy)
Also pick United to win Q1 at $2.15 (TopBetta)
Best Bet of the Round
My favourite/best bet to do from this game is picking Melbourne to win Q4 at $2.04 (UniBet). You just know that Ware, Goulding and Kennedy will all show up in the clutch to deliver the opposition the most fatal of blows!