Today we are travelling to Australia, where we will be checking the match between Cairns Taipans and Sydney Kings in NBL. The match will be played at Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns.
Cairns Taipans are currently the last team in the league with an overall record of 2-14. The only 2 matches they have won this season were; the first match of the season and the most recent one on 3rd of January against Brisbane Bullets. Looking at the match against Brisbane, Cairns really surprised with their performance. The match started off well for Cairns, who got a 9 point lead from the first 2 quarters, to which they added another 20 in the 3rd quarter, where they were far better than Brisbane. Most of Taipans success in the 3rd quarter was due to their 60% accuracy from the 3pt line (6/10).At this point, Cairns was 29 points in front of Brisbane and it was clear this would result in their 1st win since the start of the season. The last quarter ended with teams scoring 20 points each. Final score: 109:80.
VIsiting side tonight, Sydney Kings are currently at the top of the league with a 17-11 record and 2 games less than 2nd placed Perth. The upcoming match will be important for Sydney to win if they want to create some distance from Perth and Melbourne who are currently 3rd in the league with an 11-7 record. The most recent match for Sydney ended in a defeat, which means their last 5 games show a record of 3-2. Against Illawarra Hawks, Sydney started off slow, scoring only 15 points in the 1st quarter and 11 in the 2nd, while Hawks scored 17 in the 1st quarter and 19 in the 2nd. With that, the scoreboard showed 36:26, a 10 point lead for Hawks. The last 2 quarters ended with teams performing equally well. Sydney was slightly better in the 3rd and 4th quarter, but only slightly (3 points), which was not nearly enough to catch up to the Hawks. Final score: 78:71.
Taipans are the worst offensive team in the league, with only 1351 points scored in 16 games, which is the main reason for their poor performances thus far. They did, however, win their last match, but to be fair it is not nearly enough for them to bounce back, especially tonight, as they will be facing the 1st team in the league. As for Kings, Bogut is coming from an 8 point, 6 assists and 19 rebound game against Hawks. Even looking at the match prior to that one against Brisbane, he put up 14 points, 5 assists and 12 rebounds. He is without the doubt one of the key players in Sydney and from what we have seen from him, I would be surprised if he doesn’t achieve yet another double-double tonight. Of course, he is not the only dangerous player in the Sydney squad, with Randle, Newley, Adnan and even Lisch, who proved himself in the most recent match (19 points). Cairns is in my opinion just not good enough to cause any problems for Sydney who need this win to cement their position in the league.
Prediction: Sydney Kings -3.00 points
Odds: 1.70 Pinnacle
