The BetDeluxe NBL Preview is back with a bang and it all starts tonight as the Perth Wildcats and Illawarra Hawks square off against each other.
The Melbourne derby between the South East Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne United takes place on Saturday night.
Illawarra @ Perth
March 26th 9:30pm
The Perth Wildcats welcome the Illawarra Hawks.
It’s been a fantastic month, to say the least, for the Perth Wildcats, who remain the leaders of the NBL ladder with a dazzling record of 11-4.
Not only has Perth won five-straight regular-season contests, but the team is also hot off a win at the inaugural NBL Cup tournament, which it won easily with a fantastic 7-1 record.
To top it all off, the Wildcats have just recently mauled the Hawks on March 7, with the defending league champs coasting to an easy 87-70 home victory.
The terrific tandem of Bryce Cotton and John Mooney will once again be at the forefront of the offense.
Cotton leads the NBL in scoring with 25.4 points per game and is Round 10’s Player of the Week, while Mooney is averaging a double-double of 17.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.
Expecting the Wildcats to give another dose of its best basketball to the Hawks.
Suggested Bet: Perth Wildcats to cover the -7.5 line at $1.97
melbourne @ south east melbourne
march 27th 8:00pm
SEM Phoenix is on quite a tear with four consecutive wins of their own to climb up to the third rung on the NBL ladder past the Hawks.
The boys from Southeast Melbourne live and die by their offense, which ranks first in the league averaging 92.1 points per game.
However, they’re also allowing the third-most points on average this season (89.5 PAPG).
Melbourne United, who’re ranked second in the standings as we speak, need to fend off the surging SEM Phoenix this Saturday and hopefully reclaim their spot at the summit of the ladder.
United lost four-straight contests before picking up a much-needed victory over Illawarra last Sunday.
The bounce back victory for United will surely instil so much needed confidence it had been lacking in recent fixtures.
Suggested Bet: Melbourne United to cover the -2.5 line at $1.90
new zealand @ brisbane
march 27th 5:30pm
The New Zealand Breakers make the trek up north on Saturday afternoon to face the Brisbane Bullets.
New Zealand has really struggled to cope with life away from home this season as it bases itself in Australia for the whole season due COVID-19 protocols.
Fancied as one of the genuine finals contenders coming into the season as the $5.5 elects to win the NBL championship this year, it had all gone wrong.
The Breakers have only managed to win four of their 15 fixtures this season with the most recent of those being a 82-79 loss against Melbourne United after leading by 16 points at half time.
Brisbane, on the other hand, come into this game with supreme confidence with its last game being a 21-point thumping over the Breakers only six days ago.
The Breakers need to pull something out of the proverbial to get the win in this one, and they do have the talent to do so, but the Bulllets 88-67 win on March 20 exposed a Breakers squad who are lacking that offensive spark.
Suggested Bet: Brisbane Bullets head to head at $1.51
