Round 5 in NBL25 will feature the usual Saturday night double-header for fans to strap themselves in for. Second up and in the familiar 8pm (AEDT) time slot this Saturday will be the Taipans vs Hawks in Cairns. We have you covered with our full betting preview for the clash below!
Also, we’re providing previews and expert betting tips for every game of the NBL25 season, so make sure to head over to our NBL Tips page regularly to keep up to date with all of our content.
NBL25 Round 5 Preview & Betting Tips
Cairns Taipans vs Illawarra Hawks
Saturday 8:00pm AEDT, Cairns Convention Centre
The Cairns Taipans enter Round 5 with a point to prove after a couple of poor losses in recent outings. They suffered a demoralising 26-points defeat against the Kings last start in a game where they were never really in.
The Snakes are now an even 3-3 on the season which currently has them sitting in sixth spot on the standings. The good news is they now return home to the Cairns Convention Centre where they’ve won two from their past three which includes victories against solid outfits in the 36ers and the JackJumpers.
Taran Armstrong missed last week with a leg injury and was due to return this weekend, but unfortunately will remain on the sidelines for at least the next couple of games. That means the likes of Rob Edwards will take on a lot of the ball handling duties alongside backup point guard Kyle Adnam.
The Illawarra Hawks have made a very strong start to NBL25 after talking a big game in the preseason. They’ve suffered just the one defeat so far which came against the 36ers in Round 3 by two points.
Most recently the Hawks absolutely destroyed the JackJumpers by 33 points which is the Jackies biggest defeat in franchise history. The Hawks put up a huge total (109) and have now reached the ton in four of their five games, scoring 96 in the other.
Unlike previous seasons, the Hawks now have a lot of depth with the likes of Davo Hickey, Lachie Olbrich, and Hyunjung Lee all offering quality minutes off the bench. Hickey was outstanding last start with 15/8/3 in just 21 minutes of action.
Game Prediction: The Hawks are set to start this game as the overwhelming favourites despite being the travelling side. This comes on the back of their hot start to the year coupled with the unfortunate injury to Armstrong for the Snakes.
However, the line of 8.5 is a tad long for me considering how competitive the Snakes have been on their home deck this season. I’m happy to back them into cover that for a single unit.
Cairns Taipans +8.5
$1.80 (1 Unit)
