There’s only one NBL game on this Friday night but it should be an absolute cracked, with the Adelaide 36ers taking on the Cairns Taipans. As always, we bring you our analysis and best bets for the game right here!
Also, make sure to check out our NBL tips page where you’ll find our best bets for every game of the 2022-23 NBL season!
Adelaide 36ers vs Cairns Taipans Preview & Betting Tips
Friday 7:30pm AEDT, Adelaide Entertainment Centre
The Adelaide 36ers will look to build on the momentum they’ve gathered post Craig Randall but will have their hands full when they host the Cairns Taipans at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday night. Being on their home deck, the 36ers will start as the favourites ($1.50) in their first meeting of the season with the Taipans ($2.53).
Perhaps another reason the 36ers are the favourites despite an underwhelming start to their campaign is due to them winning the regular season series 2-1 against the Snakes in NBL22. Interestingly, the home team won on all three occasions by an average margin of 21 points.
In saying that, I won’t be reading into past H2H results whatsoever when predicting the outcome of this game, as both teams have completely different rosters this time around.
The 36ers are yet to pull the trigger on a third import to replace Randall, though they’ve all but guaranteed they’ll secure a signature in due course. For now, Robert Franks and Antonius Cleveland are doing a decent job of holding down the fort.
Wins in three of their last five games have seen the 36ers improve to even on the season ledger at 5-5, which is currently good enough for sixth spot in the standings.
Meanwhile, the Snakes are coming off a tough schedule in Round 8 where they played both of the top two sides. They did well to come away with a split after losing to the Breakers before overcoming the Kings in an overtime thriller.
On the back of 30 points and 13 rebounds against the Kings, Keanu Pinder has become the clubhouse leader for the MVP. His growth over the past 18 months has been nothing short of incredible, especially when you consider he was nearly out of the league after a horror season with the 36ers in 2020 where he averaged only 4.8 points and 4.3 rebounds a night.
Most of the key cogs in the Taipans machine are performing above expectations this campaign, although one guy that certainly needs to lift is Tahjere McCall. He was their standout player in 2021 where he averaged splits of 16/5/6 but enters Friday night’s game averaging just 10/4/4 on less than 40% shooting from the field.
If McCall can get back to somewhere close to his best and the rest of his teammates continue to play at their current level, there’s no reason why the Snakes can’t go very deep in the playoffs this season. On this occasion, however, I suspect they won’t need to be world beaters to get the better of the 36ers who are yet to hit their straps in NBL23. With that said, I’ll be taking the Snakes to cover the spread for a bit of insurance.
Cairns Taipans +4.5
$1.86 (1.5 Units)
