NBL24 Round 14 continues on Friday with a standalone game that will see the Illawarra Hawks take on the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Wollongong. Both teams are vying for Play-In spot, which adds some extra meaning to an already juicy matchup. We bring you our full game preview and free best bet below!
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 14 Preview & Betting Tips
Illawarra Hawks vs SE Melbourne Phoenix
Friday 7:30pm AEDT, January 5th, WIN Entertainment Centre
What a turnaround it’s been for the Illawarra Hawks under interim head coach Justin Tatum. After picking up the wooden spoon last season with only three wins, and starting this campaign with a 2-7 record, the Hawks have now won five of their seven games under Tatum.
The Hawks have also won four of their last five including back-to-back wins coming into Round 14. Most recently they took care of business against the 36ers in an easy win, pouring in 89+ points for the fifth straight time, which is a number they only reached twice in their 11 games prior.
Targeting the inside presence of Sam Froling on offence has also been important in their return to form. He’s been identified by Tatum as their key player on offence and has responded with 3x 20+ points games across his last five appearances.
On the other end of the spectrum we have the South East Melbourne Phoenix who have found wins very hard to come by in recent weeks. They were horrible in their last start loss to the Bullets, making it four losses from their last five games, which saw them fall to 9-10 on the season and in danger of falling outside the top six.
Injuries and issues with their imports have played a part in the Phoenix’s recent demise. They had to offload import Will Cummings a couple of weeks ago and he was someone who was making a meaningful impact on the court. On top of that, Alan Williams picked up an injury against the Bullets last outing and his availability for Friday night is still in question.
New import Abdel Nader has shown signs of improvement in recent games but his efficiency is still severely lacking. This leaves a lot on the shoulders of Mitch Creek who’s only recently returned from an injury of his own.
Match prediction: This one has the feeling of an old-fashioned eight-point game. In all likelihood there’s only one spot in the top six for these two teams and winning this game will play a decent part in who makes it.
These clubs have played twice so far in NBL24 and the Hawks have come away victorious on both occasions, once at home and once on the road. Most recently, they destroyed the Phoenix in Gippsland by 28 points (100-72).
The Hawks are clearly the better form team in this matchup and deserve to be shorter favourites than they currently are. I’m keen to have a decent crack at them at the small handicap.
Illawarra Hawks -2.5
$1.91 (2.5 Units)
