NBL24 Round 11 begins on Thursday night at the usual 7:30pm (AEDT) timeslot, with the South East Melbourne Phoenix taking on Melbourne United in Throwdown XXIII. We provide our full game preview, analysis, and best bet below. Good luck to everyone following our tips this weekend!
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 11 Preview & Betting Tips
SE Melbourne Phoenix vs Melbourne United
Thursday 7:30pm AEDT, December 14th, John Cain Arena
Throwdown XXIII is here and the South East Melbourne Phoenix come into it in some great form after securing back-to-back wins against last season’s Grand Finalists. Their best win of the season came in their most recent outing when they took down the Sydney Kings despite being on the road and severely undermanned.
The Phoenix parted ways with troublesome import Will Cummings last week and were also without Craig Moller who unfortunately suffered a season-ending injury in Round 9. However, having less at their disposable ended up working in their favour, with Mitch Creek starring in their season-best win.
The Phoenix have been quick to replace Cummings, opting to acquire Abdel Nader for their third and final import slot. Nader has vast experience playing in the top leagues in the world including the NBA. Nader will fly into Melbourne on Thursday and is a chance to be available later in the round.
There were a few question marks surrounding the recent performances of championship favourites Melbourne United heading into Round 10, however they quickly put those question marks to bed with an emphatic win over the Brisbane Bullets.
MVP candidate Chris Goulding continued his sparkling season with 21 points in only 28 minutes of action. He single-handedly tore the Bullets to shreds in the second quarter, pouring in five triples to give his side match-winning separation.
United have had their fair share of injury issues this season but will head into Round 11 with almost a fully fit squad. Of course, with that comes the problem of trying to please everyone with minutes, and some will find themselves unlucky enough to not be involved at all.
Match prediction: Melbourne United have been the stronger team in this matchup in recent times, winning each of the last three Throwdowns. However, South East Melbourne Phoenix will be buoyed by their recent performances and will be quietly confident about their chances of getting one back on their crosstown rivals. In my opinion, this could genuinely go either way, so I’ll avoid playing into the head-to-head and handicap markets.
Instead, I like the unders in the total points market which has hit in each of the last five Throwdowns. The current total of 180.5 hasn’t been close to being eclipsed in any of their recent meetings, and I expect defence to be the primary focus for both teams in this clash once again.
Under 180.5 Points
$1.88 (1.5 Units)
