NBL25 Round 5 continues on Friday night with the JackJumpers taking on the Kings in a mouth-watering matchup at the Silverdome in Tasmania. Will the JackJumpers defend the island once more, or will the powerhouse Kings make their mark? We bring you our full game preview and best bet 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
Tasmania JackJumpers vs Sydney Kings
Friday 7:30pm AEDT, Silverdome
Tasmania enter Round 5 under a little bit of pressure after a shaky start to their championship defence. Shaky might be a bit of an understatement too, as their recent 33-point loss against the Hawks was their biggest ever defeat in their four-year history in the NBL.
The good news for the JackJumpers is they return to Tasmania on Friday night where they’re currently undefeated in NBL25 (2-0). They’ve taken down some quality opposition in both of their wins on home soil – a nine-point win against United in Round 2, and a five-point overtime win against the Wildcats in Round 3.
With import Craig Sword now back in the rotation after some early injury troubles, the JackJumpers have only Sean McDonald listed on the official NBL injury list. The bad news is McDonald is a valuable piece for the JackJumpers on both sides of the ball, particularly with his high-level shot-making, and he won’t be returning until around the halfway point of the season (estimated Round 13).
It was mixed results for the Sydney Kings in Round 4. They began the round with a lacklustre 10-point defeat against the 36ers in Adelaide, but bounced back with an emphatic 26-point thumping of the Taipans in Sydney.
The Kings have now traded wins with losses in their opening five games and will be searching for more consistency moving forward. The challenge for Brian Goorjian and his coaching staff is trying to find the best lineups/rotations for his side that is absolutely littered with top-level talent.
On the injury front, Star guard Jaylen Adams suffered a back injury in the first half against the 36ers and sat out of their win against the Kings on Sunday. His timeline is currently listed as TBC, but the probability he plays on Friday night is ‘strong’ according to sources.
Game Prediction: This is the first meeting between these clubs this season and the first overall since December last season. The JackJumpers won the regular season series 2-1 in NBL24, but that means very little at this point.
The JackJumpers are 2-0 at home this campaign but I still have large concerns about where their roster’s currently at. Losing Jack McVeigh to the Rockets in the off-season and McDonald to injury in the preseason has affected their offensive ability enormously.
Through five games the JackJumpers are averaging just 77 points in regulation and their highest total is 81. Those types of numbers simply aren’t going to get it done against the best clubs, especially when their defence also isn’t at the high level we saw last season.
In contrast, the Kings undoubtedly have the most firepower in the competition and as long as they bring a decent level of effort and intensity, they’ll be very hard for the Jackies to outscore here.
Kings -2.5
$1.87 (1.5 Units)
