Stakes couldn’t be much higher for the first game of Sunday’s NBL23 double-header in Round 18. Melbourne United will host the Adelaide 36ers in a do-or-die clash at John Cain Arena.
Jake Smit brings you his preview and best bet for the game below, and make sure to check out our best bets for all NBL Round 18 games.
Melbourne United vs Adelaide 36ers Preview & Betting Tips
Sunday Feb 5, 2pm AEDT, John Cain Arena
There are big games, and then there’s Melbourne United vs Adelaide 36ers this Sunday afternoon.
United’s finals destiny is somewhat in their own hands, at least more so than the 36ers. They need to win this game and hope the Wildcats lose to the Kings, or win this game by a higher margin than the Wildcats beat the Kings by.
For the 36ers, they need to defeat United, but also make up 42 points on the Wildcats. So, their most likely route to the finals is a 20-point win against United and for the Kings to defeat the Wildcats by a similar margin.
United would be disappointed they were unable to lock in a finals berth last weekend when they were defeated by the Breakers, but can’t be too hard on themselves after the fantastic run of form they’ve been in to just give themselves a fighting chance.
They’ve won eight of their last nine games and have won four straight on their home deck, which they haven’t played on since Round 12 due to the Australian Open owning rights to John Cain Arena.
The 36ers finish to the season has been quite the opposite to their upcoming opponents. They lost six of seven games between Rounds 13-16, although they’ve managed to pull out two wins in a row against top three teams to keep their season alive.
This will obviously be the final meeting between these teams this season and the series is currently tied at 1-1 after both teams failed to defend home court.
Their most recent meeting went the way of United (94-87) on the back of a 28-point performance from Chris Goulding, while Robert Franks was big for the losers with a 24/10/6 line.
Rayjon Tucker was the leading scorer for United in their 86-91 loss back in November with 23 points. Robert Franks was again the star man for the 36ers with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
You can expect the stars for both teams to step up on Sunday and there’s plenty of them suiting up for both teams. Antonius Cleveland is having another fine season and continues to get better with every game for the 36ers, and Marcus Lee has been a huge get for United mid-season and is one of the reasons why they’ve turned their season around.
Another big reason for United’s hot finish has been the play of Shea Ili who missed plenty of games early on. Unfortunately, he will be missing this pivotal clash due to ongoing concussion issues.
Ili is a big loss for United but they still have form and home court advantage on their side and I think that will be enough for them to secure the crucial win. They also know they need to win by as much as possible, so I’ll be backing them to cover the spread with that in mind.
Melbourne United -5.5
$1.90 (2 Units)
