NBL Round 10

Townsville v Melbourne

The last time these two teams met (Round 7) was the last time the Crocs (6 wins 7 losses) lost a game.  They have since won 3 in a row, whilst these have not been against the best of opposition (Wollongong, South Dragons and Singapore); the first 2 scalps were away from home on back to back nights which is no lean feat in the NBL.  Ben Pepper did not play the last time they faced the Tigers, with him in the lineup I would not expect Chris Anstey to get 20 rebounds against them this time.  This is a very big test for the Crocs to make it 4 wins on the trot.

The Tigers will come into this game fresh after a 10 day break following their first loss of the year to the Kings.  They will still be without Dave Thomas.  Martin Muursepp will have benefited the most from the layoff as he has been playing with a bad ankle.  I find the Tigers whilst being quite consistent (9 wins 1 loss so far) to be one of the most unpredictable teams in this competition.  You just don’t know whether or not they will be content with getting the job done or really blowing their opposition away.

I believe the rested Tigers will be too good in this game.  I find the line betting to be about right.  I have a preference for the overs.  There are numerous players on both teams that can pile on the points at any given stage of a game.  There only was 158 points in their Round 7 meeting.  That was a very ugly game in which the Crocs shot 24% (6/25) and the Tigers shot 19% (4/21) from 3 point land.  Both of these teams average 34% on the season (I am certain that the Tigers coming off such a long rest and up against a defence that allows 99 points a game will do a lot better than 19%).  The last time the Tigers came off such a lengthy break there was 205 points in their next game against New Zealand in Round 6.

Over 195.5 @ 1.92 Lasseters - 1 unit