Round 16 in the entertaining NBL24 season begins this Wednesday night with the South East Melbourne Phoenix playing hosts to the Adelaide 36ers at the State Basketball Centre in Melbourne. We have a full game preview and best bet for you right here!
Also, we’re providing previews and expert betting tips for every game of the NBL24 season, so make sure to head over to our NBL Tips page regularly to keep up to date with all of our content.
NBL24 Round 16 Preview & Betting Tips
SE Melbourne Phoenix vs Adelaide 36ers
Wednesday 7:30pm AEDT, January 17th, State Basketball Centre
In horrible form as we enter Round 16, the South East Melbourne Phoenix will be desperate to put in an improved performance on Wednesday night. They come into this matchup having lost three in a row and six of their past seven games, which has seen them fall to 9-12 on the season and down to eighth in the standings.
Not only have the Phoenix been losing of late, they’ve been getting smashed. All six of their recent losses have been by at least a dozen points and four of them have been by 20 or more. The Phoenix’s most recent outing was away against the Wildcats where they fell 100-79.
In more bad news for the Phoenix, star centre Alan Williams has been a confirmed out for Wednesday night. The former NBA big man has been electric when he’s played this season but has had a few niggling injuries of late which has now seen him miss a number of games.
Elsewhere, the Adelaide 36ers have been in solid form over the past couple of weeks, picking up two wins from their last three games. They were desperately unlucky not to be a perfect 3/3 over that stretch after losing to the Taipans in an overtime heartbreaker last time out.
Still, the 36ers have a lot of work to do if they’re to make a late push for a Play-In spot. They’re currently two wins behind sixth and would likely need to win nearly all of their remaining games to leap frog the teams ahead of them.
In a tough break for the 36ers, import Jacob Wiley is set to miss on Wednesday night. The import big man has been struggling with a heel injury in his past few games and will be given the night off against the Phoenix.
Match prediction: This will be the third meeting between these clubs this season with the series tied at one win apiece. Both preceding games were played in Adelaide, with the Phoenix winning the first and the 36ers bouncing back in their second clash.
Fast forward to now and it’s the 36ers who are in the much better form of the pair. The Phoenix have been decimated by injuries of late and there will be no let up on Wednesday night with Williams set to miss again. Without his presence in the paint, it’s awfully tough for the Phoenix to be competitive over 40 minutes. With that said, I like the value of the 36ers pulling off the road win.
Adelaide 36ers to Win
$2.05 (1 Unit)
