The following are previews with betting tips for selected fixtures in Round 8 of the 2024/25 NBL season.
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Sydney Kings vs South East Melbourne PhoenixFriday November 08, 7:30pm |
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Friday night at Sydney Olympic Park will witness a few familiar faces inside of Qudos Bank Arena as Angus Glover, Jordan Hunter and Tom Vodanovich all prepare to face off against Sydney whom they collectively won multiple Championships with. Glover gave the Kings everything he had with his 3&D ability and never say die attitude to hustle for the ball. Whilst for Hunter, a former Waratah League MVP, the Kings represented his first pro club and the team who he developed massively as a player with over the course of five years. And for Vodanovich his time with his ex-employers was short and sweet as he was a massive glue guy more then willing to come off the pine. All three should receive very warm welcomes as they try to help South East Melbourne secure a fourth consecutive away win. A difficult feat to achieve given that Sydney just KOd Tasmania at home by 28PTS thanks to an incredible 26PTS and five threes from Kouat Noi. This being an affair that either way will be an absolute blast to watch.
Sydney’s last thee results; W vs Tasmania 88/60 – Kouat Noi w 26PTS & 2REB, L vs Melbourne 87/83 – Cam Oliver w 18PTS & 16REB, L vs New Zealand 93/89, Izayah Le’afa w 23PTS & 2REB.
South East Melbourne’s last thee results; W vs Perth 100/76 – Nathan Sobey w 20PTS & 5AST, W vs Tasmania 79-77 – Matt Hurt with 24PTS & 6REB, L vs Illawarra 88/82 – Hurt w 18PTS & 9REB.
Cam Oliver and Jordan Hunter going head-to-head in the paint is a battle that will undoubtedly have huge bearings on this encounter. For Oliver he has clearly taken some of the criticism aimed at him recently to heart as he has been unstoppable as of late. The former Atlanta Hawk and Houston Rockets big Man locked down 12PTS & 11REB in his sides most recent thrashing of ‘Tassie’. Whilst before that he had 18PTS & 16REB in what was an incredibly close defeat to Melbourne. With Jaylen Adams battling a back issue, Xavier Cooks being somewhat shaky and fellow former Taipan Bul Kuol being severely underwhelming, Oliver has taken it upon himself to help lead the Kings on the floor in a big, big way. Meanwhile for Hunter in his sides twenty-four point demolition job of the Wildcats at home last round he made a quiet, yet meaningful impact with 9PTS & 6REB. Prior to that in another dub he had 7PTS & 4REB. Those stats might not scream out at you but South East Melbourne are playing winning Basketball at the moment and Hunter is meaningfully contributing to that. How Hunter performs against Oliver, the Man who took his spot, will go a long way to determining the outcome of the game. Likewise whether Oliver continue his renaissance of sorts or not.
Betting tips: Back a Sydney victory at $1.37 (UniBet)
Also back Sydney to win Q1 at $1.63 (BetRight)
And look for the first half to collectively be the highest scoring one at $1.77 (Bet365)
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Adelaide 36ers vs Illawarra HawksSunday November 10, 4:30pm |
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Adelaide currently have a 5-4 record for the season, whilst Illawarra are 6-3. Both teams are flying high near the top of the ladder at the moment and appear to be in the midst of some pretty good form. For the 36ers they’ve prevailed in their last four consecutive matches at home, as well as 15 of the last 17 games that they’ve hosted. Whilst for the Hawks they’ve triumphed in four of their last five games on the road. And despite going down by eight-points to the Wildcats last time out in WA, Tyler Harvey still lit up the floor for a vintage 25PTS. Whilst his partner-in-crime Will Hickey was incredibly creative as well with 20PTS & 4AST, more then justifying his recent Boomers selection. Lachlan Olbrich also emerged with some dawg in him as the 2X NZNBL MVP and 107kgs PF/C produced 14PTS & 4REB. For the first time in seven seasons Adelaide look like a legitimate post-season threat, while Illawarra are gunning for their first Grand Final victory in 24 campaigns. Both teams are historical heavyweights who are commandingly working their way back to their former glory and this game has all the spice in the world to add to exactly that.
Adelaide’s last thee results; L vs New Zealand 109/82 – Montrezl Harrell w 25PTS & 6REB, W vs Cairns 99/93 – Harrell w 36PTS & 16REB, W vs Tasmania 77/73 – Kendric Davis w 23PTS & 6AST.
Illawarra’s last thee results; L vs Perth 113/105 – Tyler Harvey w 25PTS & 2AST, W vs South East Melbourne 88/82 – Harvey with 22PTS & 4REB, L vs Melbourne 92/87 – Will Hickey w 17PTS & 6AST.
Last time out against the Breakers in New Zealand the 36ers really struggled to get going against the oppositions notoriously stingy defence and as a result went down by 27PTS. One statistic that stood out quite vividly from this defeat was the fact that the visitors grabbed just 25REB on the day, whereas in stark comparison the opposition locked down 40. New Zealand limited Kendric Davis to just one singular board and Jarell Martin, a PF/C who once averaged 4.4RPG over the course of an entire season for Memphis, to just three. Coming up against a similar ‘brick-wall like’ defence the big question is how Adelaide will ‘leap over’ or ‘barge through’ in order to be in with a legitimate chance of stealing the win right out from under the Hawks beaks. DJ Vasiljevic stands to be one of the electric stars who can potentially boost the 36ers chances here. Averaging 18.2PPG this season + shooting over 35% from deep, he is in his natural element at the moment. He is the type of pacey, no bars held shooter that could potentially disrupt Jason Tatum’s troops. Either DJ wins out or the defence will get the better of him, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Betting tips: Pick Illawarra to win the race to 20PTS first at $1.90 (Bet365)
Also pick the first half to collectively be the highest scoring one at $1.77 (Bet365)
And you can also look for the Hawks to win Q1 at $1.98 (BetRight)