After a long off season, Australian Basketball is finally back and we will be offering NBL betting tips every week! We take a look at the best value games with our 2016-17 NBL Round 1 Betting Tips.
Brisbane Bullets Vs Perth Wildcats (Thursday, October 6th - 7:30pm)
Reigning Champions the Perth Wildcats are the favourites in this one and rightly so. After yet another championship last year, the Wildcats are now one of the most successful sporting franchises of all time, in any sport. They have simply dominated the NBL for a long time.
After being absent from the competition for almost a decade, the Brisbane Bullets will rejoin the NBL this season. The Bullets are coached by Australian Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis and have done a fantastic job recruiting the likes of Adam Gibson from the Adelaide 36ers and Jermaine Beal from Perth.
The Wildcats are 5-3 from their last eight starts and while we haven't seen the Bullets play yet, they look like they could do a lot of damage at home. The Wildcats also tend to underperform during away games, so we are going to tip the Bullets for the win in their first game back.
Tip: Brisbane Bullets at the line (-4.0) $1.90 at CrownBet
+ Consider: Bullets Hd-Hd using CrownBet 3/4 time special
New Zealand Breakers Vs Melbourne United (Friday, October 7th - 5:30pm)
New Zealand certainly had the edge over Melbourne last season. The Breakers won a three-game streak to sweep against Melbourne in the semi’s and made the 2015-2016 Grand Final against the Wildcats.
One of the Stars for the Breakers last year was Cedric Jackson. I say "was" because Cedric is now with Melbourne after moving across the Tasman. Melbourne has used the off season to stack their roster and are certainly looking the early contenders for the Championship. Current Boomer and Ex NBA player David Anderson has also joined Melbourne this season. Anderson was an offensive target during the recent 2016 Rio Olympics and will certainly be one of Melbourne's leading point scorers.
With all this new firepower, we are tipping Melbourne to get the job done in Auckland.
Tip: Melbourne United at the line (-3.5) - $1.93 at CrownBet
Sydney Kings Vs Brisbane Bullets (Saturday, October 8th - 5:30pm)
When it comes to the Sydney Kings, everyone is talking about newly appointed Head Coach and all round Australian Basketball legend Andrew Gaze. He is in a great position at the Kings for lots of reasons - the key being that they were so terrible last season that it would be hard to get any worse.
Regardless, it seems like Sydney’s time is now and with the Bullets traveling to Sydney after what will surely be a tough season opener against the Wildcats, the Kings should be able to start the season strongly. Backing Gaze in to get the boys over the line.
Tip: Sydney Kings at the line (-5.5) $1.90 at CrownBet
Melbourne United Vs Adelaide 36ers (Sunday, October 9th - 4pm)
The Adelaide 36ers will travel to Melbourne on Sunday afternoon for what will surely be an action-packed game against the United. The 36ers are a nine-point underdog heading into this one. Last season they managed to win 12 of their away games while being the books underdogs, so we feel pretty comfortable looking at them to cause the upset.
Despite no faith, in a betting sense, everything is leaning towards the 36ers. Melbourne have to travel back from New Zealand on Saturday and Adelaide will face off against Illawarra on Friday Night. If the 36ers can defeat the Hawks, then we’re tipping the 36ers to actually beat Melbourne on Sunday. If they are easily defeated by the Hawks, we might have to re-evaluate.
Tip: Adelaide 36ers at the line (+9.5) - $1.90 at CrownBet
