Australia continue their 2019 FIBA World Cup campaign on Saturday at 6pm (AEST) when they take on Dominican Republic. Australia have been good enough to get themselves into the second round and will be looking to almost guarantee a spot in the quarterfinals with a win on Saturday!
We will be bringing you a brief preview and betting tips for all of the Australian games in the World Cup. Check out our prediction for Australia vs Dominican Republic below and good luck to everyone following!
FIBA World Cup Betting Tips
Australia vs Dominican Republic (Saturday, 6pm AEST)
The first round of the FIBA World Cup is in the books and now just 16 nations remain. If you’re unfamiliar with how the points accrued from the first round impacts the Aussies second round group, check out our previous article here.
Australia
The Aussies certainly saved their best Group H performance until last when they defeated European giants Lithuania. Australia went in as the slight underdogs but were good enough to come away with a five-point win (87-82) and finish on top of their group as a result. The Boomers had two standout performers in Patty Mills (23 points) and Aron Baynes (21 points, 13 rebounds). Joe Ingles was a lot quieter than usual with just two points, although he did chime in with an important eight assists.
Now that the Aussies are in the box seat to progress through to the quarterfinals, it's important they put in a much better effort on Saturday than they did when they took on the lesser-talented Senegal earlier this week. The Boomers gameplan relies on relentless pressure in the backcourt, as well as a bruising presence in the frontcourt. If they provide their trademark play against the Dominican Republic, then they'll just about be on their way to the quarters.
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic are one of the real surprise teams of the World Cup thus far, defying the odds to progress through to the second phase of the tournament. The only household name they possess is Al Horford of the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, although he’s not even in their World Cup squad. Dominican Republic’s big upset win came over the Denis Schroeder led Germany, which proved to be the decisive win that got them into the last 16.
Prediction
Australia now find themselves in a really promising position thanks to their recent win over Lithuania, and now really only need to win this fixture against Dominican Republic to almost guarantee their progression into the quarterfinals.
The Boomers are absolute red-hot favourites to get the chocolates on Saturday, starting as 1.005 favourites at Sportsbet at the time of publication. Obviously, there’s absolutely no value at all in this market, so we’ve had a look at some of the handicap markets on offer instead. We’ve been burnt before when we backed the Aussies at a big line (vs Senegal), but we’re prepared to forgive and forget and back them into make light work of the Dominican Republic.
Knowing what’s at stake, we expect the Australians to produce a big statement win and cover the rather large spread.
Australia -22.5 Handicap
$1.93
