After one of the most exciting seasons in league history, we are about to witness a star-studded showdown between Melbourne United and the Adelaide 36ers, who are set to fight it out for the 2017/18 NBL Championship in a best-out-of-five game series. It’s been a tremendous year for both clubs, not only did they finish first and second in the regular season standings (respectively), they also went on to sweep their opponents in the Semi Finals to book a spot in this year’s Grand Final.
Melbourne United entered the season as the favourites to take out this year’s Championship despite failing to make the playoffs in the season prior. A major factor in their short odds was the addition of Casey Prather from the Wildcats. Prather is a proven star in the NBL and has added another string to United’s bow this season.
Although Melbourne clinched the minor premiership with a few games to spare, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Dean Vickerman’s men this season. They were slow to come out of the gates and split their first 12 games of the season. However, once the team started to gel they never looked back, winning 14 of their remaining 16 games to steer clear of the rest of the competition.
With Melbourne United clinching the minor premiership and gaining all the major headlines, Adelaide 36ers were able to fly under the radar to have yet another superb regular season. They finished in second after flying home in their last 10 games and made light work of the defending champion Perth Wildcats in the Semi Finals, sweeping them 2 games to love.
Adelaide don’t quite have the household names that their opponents have, however, they are a team that loves to share the ball and do the team things to give themselves the best possible chance of victory. Much like what Prather has provided to Melbourne, the addition of Josh Childress midseason gave them a huge boost on the wing, as he fitted in seamlessly from day one.
Prediction
In what came as somewhat of a surprise, Melbourne United actually swept the Adelaide 36ers 4-0 in the regular season. They defeated them by 2, 20, 17, and 8 points in their 4 meetings, which will obviously give them a huge boost of confidence ahead of their game 1 matchup on Friday Night. Long-time readers will remember that we picked Melbourne United to take out the Championship in our season preview, and their regular season dominance and Head-to-head record against Adelaide has only added more confidence in our prediction. We don’t think United will get the sweep against a strong 36ers outfit, however, we do think they’ll get the job done in 4 games on the back of a huge series from their dominant big man, Josh Boone.
TIP: Melbourne United win the Championship - $1.57 at Sportsbet
Value: Melbourne United win series 3-1 - $4 at Sportsbet
MVP TIP: Josh Boone - $7.50 at Ladbrokes
