It’s Round 9 of the 2022-23 NBL season and not many would have predicted the New Zealand Breakers would be sitting atop the NBL ladder. The Breakers have been sensational and they find themselves in another match-of-the-round contest against the South East Melbourne Phoenix this Thursday night.
Greg Davis returns with his free preview and NBL betting tips for Breakers vs Phoenix.
New Zealand Breakers vs South East Melbourne Phoenix
Christchurch Arena, Thursday 5:30pm AEDT
The only thing hotter than the pink in their uniforms is the current form of New Zealand themselves.
The Breakers host South East Melbourne in Christchurch this Thursday night and will be firm favourites given their outstanding start to the 2022-23 NBL campaign.
New Zealand sit on top of the standings after Round 8 with a 10-3 win-loss record having triumphed in seven of their last eight outings with the only loss coming against reigning champion Sydney.
The Breakers have won their last four games and are 4-2 at home (in Auckland) this season under the guidance of new head coach Mody Maor who served as an assistant coach at New Zealand for three seasons.
The Breakers only won five games last season when they were on the road for the entire campaign due to Covid but the intense and always interesting Maor has New Zealand rolling.
The men in hot pink beat the third-placed Cairns in Far North Queensland last Friday before torching Brisbane on Sunday with the highest score (116 points) in regulation time this season.
Import Jarrell Brantley had 29 points while Izayah LeAfa had 21 points, with four of six from beyond the arc, as the Breakers hit 17 of 33 from the land of plenty as a team on the way to a 60 percent clip overall from the field.
They are playing confident, team-first basketball with plenty of grit at the defensive end spurred on by Maor.
The stat that highlights how this Breakers squad never quits is that they have won the fourth quarter in their last 13 games.
They occupy the top of the NBL ladder for a reason.
So, the Phoenix have their work cut out for them.
South East Melbourne belted Illawarra last Sunday by 34 points to follow on from their 15-point victory over Melbourne United in The Throwdown.
That two-game mini-streak has enabled the Phoenix to kick clear of the mid-table traffic jam but they have not been overly convincing this season.
They are still trying to find their groove and how they can best support Mitch Creek who is travelling nicely with 22.7 points per game to go with almost seven boards per game. They have no trouble scoring the ball but stopping the other side can be a problem.
That might be an issue against the Breakers who are sweeping all before them at the moment. Hard to see the hot pink streak coming to an end on Thursday.
P.S. And if you like betting on total points, Christchurch Arena averages 173 points per game when it has hosted NBL matches and the line set for this encounter is 169.5 points.
Alternative bet: Over 169.5 total points - $1.87 at Bet365
New Zealand -10.5 points
$3.25
