The following are previews with betting tips for Game Two of the Semi-Finals for the 2021 NBL season.
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Saturday, June 12
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Illawarra Hawks vs Perth WildcatsWIN Entertainment Centre 5:30pm AEDT |
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With just under 10 seconds left on the clock Justinian Jessup hit a FT that put his team up by two-points. Todd Blanchfield then missed the late three-point attempt and that was that, the Hawks stole a simply crazy 74-72 victory at the RAC Arena. Combined with the fact that they won Q4 22-16 highlighted just how lethal they can be when they all put it together. And that now leaves Perth on the brink of a rather unexpected early finals departure. Can they turn it around or will Illawarra head off to the Grand Final series with their heads held high?
For Illawarra they can surely only improve and go upwards after Tyler Harvey scored just 10PTS and Deng Deng 3. They also each shot an incredibly poor 4/21 and 1/4 respectively. However, it’s a good thing that Justin Simon came up with 16PTS, the previously mentioned Jessup 17 as well as both Sam Froling and Tim Coenraad with 10 each. Simon did a bit of everything as he also had 9REB, 3AS and 2ST. While for Jessup he too did that with 4REB, 1AS and 1ST. Froling shot 4/7 and Coenraad went 3/6 from deep. Froling also had 7 boards, 4 dimes, 2 steals and 2 swats. And Coenraad was at three boards as well. When you factor in Harvey’s almost guaranteed improvement in this game the Hawks become a fairly difficult proposition once again.
Perth’s bench was poor in this encounter. Kevin White was 0/2, Jesse Wagstaff 1/4 and Clint Steindl 2/6. Only Corey Shervill shot positively from the floor (50%) and even he had just 3PTS. Of the starters John Mooney also played horribly as he made just 5 of his 13 attempted shots. Although in fairness to him he partly made up for it with his 15REBS. Todd Blanchfield also chipped in strongly with 24PTS and Luke Travers 12. Blanchfield also had 2REB and 3AS, while he hit SIX shots from deep. And Travers got 6REB, 2AS, 1ST and 1BL.
Both Harvey and Mooney were relative non-factors when it came to their shooting in G1. And for Harvey in particular the damaging rate in which he jacked up unnecessary three-point attempts was not healthy at all. They both need to try and not force their shots through in G2 and rather let it be natural. Given the influence Mooney has on his side as an inside scorer and what Harvey can do all-round offensively both make them pretty big names and players for Perth and Illawarra respectively. This is a massive game and both players should definitely be up for it. Look for their form to each change radically headed in this one.
Betting tips: Pick Perth to win at $2.05 (Bet365)
Also pick them to win Q1 at $1.95 (Bet365)
As well as that pick the total points scored throughout the match to be even at $1.91 (Sportsbet)
And pick the total points scored throughout the match to be over 154.5 at $1.91 (Sportsbet)
Sunday, June 13
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South East Melbourne Phoenix vs Melbourne UnitedQudos Bank Arena 3:00pm AEDT |
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S.E.M should perhaps be thankful that their G1 against Melbourne was contested behind closed doors as that meant that there was not many to see it as they were whipped over and over again by United as they went down 96-78 at Qudos Bank Arena. Certainly not helping their cause was losing Q’S 2 & 3, 32-18 and 27-16! In what was their biggest game in their franchise’s short history … they choked. They didn’t do what they had to do and they choked. Could Melbourne make this clash look easy yet again or do the Phoenix have some fight left in them?
United’s utter domination saw Scotty Hopson be strong off the pine with 22PTS. Jock Landale also had 26. While all of Chris Goulding, Jo Lual-Acuil and Shea Ili had 9PTS each. Hopson made 9/11 shots, good for an incredible 81.8%. He also got 3 dimes and 1 steal. And Landale shot 10/14 as he had 1REB, 1ST and 1BL. And unfortunately for the veteran Goulding he shot just 3/11 from the floor, a stat that will drastically have to improve for G2. However defensively he was pretty solid accumulating 3ST next to his name.
While for the losers Mitch Creek had 15PTS and Keifer Skyes 12. Whilst Ben Moore came up with a MASSIVE 17PTS off the bench. Other then that it was pretty shocking as the likes of Reuben Te Rangi scored just 6PTS and Adam Gibson 2. Creek shot 6/10, as he got 4REB, 6AS and 2ST. Skyes shot 50% from the floor as he also grabbed 1REB and 2AS. And then former Indiana Pacer Moore shot an electric 87.5% from the floor. Whilst he also got 3REB and 1ST.
The three-ball is so important in modern Basketball, in fact its huge. Whether it’s in the NBL, in America, Europe, Asia or wherever, you just gotta be able to hit them! But in the Phoenix’s latest defeat to United, Kyle Adnam went 2/3 and that was it. None of his other teammates off the bench could help him out AT ALL in that category. Both Gibson and Cam Gliddon were 0/2 each. While Izayah Mauriohooho-Le afa missed his only attempt of the game as well. That needs to be fixed ASAP as does their pine-scoring woes as well. If these two red flags can be fixed then S.E.M have a chance of winning this one, but if not then it’ll be back to Victoria for them.
Betting tips: Pick the Phoenix to win at $3.07 (BlueBet)
But pick Melbourne to win Q1 at $1.65 (BlueBet)