NBL24 resumes this weekend with Round 9! The first of seven games for the round will play out on Thursday night with the New Zealand Breakers taking on the Adelaide 36ers at Woolbrook Arena in Christchurch, New Zealand. As always, preview the clash and provide our best bet for free right here!
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 9 Preview & Betting Tips
New Zealand Breakers vs Adelaide 36ers
Thursday 5:30pm AEDT, November 30th, Wolfbrook Arena
The New Zealand Breakers will be hoping that the week off will help them kickstart what has been an extremely disappointing NBL24 to date. They were desperately close to winning the championship a season ago but haven’t come close to replicated that form through the first eight rounds this campaign.
Most recently the Breakers suffered an inexcusable home loss against the Hawks in a game where their offence was nothing short of horrible. They put up just 65 points which is by far their lowest total of the season, with their previous lowest being 76 against the Wildcats in the round prior.
On a positive note, Anthony Lamb has certainly found his feet in the NBL and has now recorded 20+ points in four straight games. He has formed a great 1-2 punch with fellow important Parker Jackson-Cartwright, and now it’s up to the rest of the Breakers roster to increase their output.
Also on the outside of the top six looking in are the Adelaide 36ers. They began this season the way they finished the last – struggling to find wins. Coincidentally, they enter the opening game in Round 9 in eighth spot, which is also where they finished up in NBL23.
However, there are some positive signs for the 36ers on the back of some of their recent performances. They grinded out a fantastic comeback win at home against the Phoenix last start, making it four wins from their last seven outings, and three from their last five at home.
Despite signing with the team after the beginning of the season, Dejan Vasiljevic has quickly become the 36ers go-to-guy on offence. He can be streaky at times, but he’s capable of producing game-winning performances on any given night, which is what from him against the Phoenix in Round 8 when he poured in 29 points.
Match prediction: These teams met just over a month ago in New Zealand and despite being the huge underdogs it was the 36ers who came away with a much-needed win (97-85). Vasiljevic was the Player of the Game with 24 points and five assists, connecting on five triples. Anthony Lamb was coming off the bench for the Breakers (now in a starting role), and he led them in scoring with a game-high 25 points.
Both teams are running at a 33% win percentage since their Round 5 meeting at Spark Arena, with the Breakers winning 2/6, while the 36ers are 1/3. The Breakers have only played twice at home (1-1) and the 36ers only once on the road (0-1).
Regardless, a lot more is expected of the Breakers this season and they’ll be starting as the hot favourites to take down the 36ers on Thursday night. They would’ve worked on a whole lot over the break and are simply far too talented to be placed in the bottom two in the standings. They’ll hit their straps sooner or later and this just might be the game where they start to gain some momentum.
New Zealand Breakers -3.5
$1.80 ($1.5 Units)
