Saturday’s double-header in Round 1 of the new NBL25 season concludes with an intriguing matchup between the Cairns Taipans and the Illawarra Hawks. HBF Stadium in Pert will be the host venue and as always, we have you covered with 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 1 Preview & Betting Tips
Cairns Taipans vs Illawarra Hawks
Saturday 8:30pm AEST, September 21st, HBF Stadium (Perth)
The Cairns Taipans finished in eighth position last season and are currently listed as the favourites to slip to 10th and ‘win’ the wooden spoon in NBL25.
It’s tough to get too excited ahead of this season for the Taipans. They lost their best players in Pat Miller, TahJ McCall, and Bul Kuol, as we all Next Star Bobi Klintman.
Young point guard Taran Armstrong will be given the keys on offence this season but will unfortunately be unavailable for the first couple of rounds due to injury. Fellow guards Jackson Makoi (suspended) and Kyle Adman (injured) also won’t be suiting up on Saturday night.
The Taipans were poor in the preseason, particularly at the NBL Blitz where they were winless from four games.
Meanwhile, there’s plenty of optimism surrounding the Illawarra Hawks and their chances of doing something special this season. They completely turned their form around in NBL24 when coach Justin Tatum took over, and he’s back to lead the Hawks again this season.
The Hawks lost a couple of their imports with Gary Clark and Justin Robinson both departing, although they’ve replaced them with talented guys such as Trey Kell and Darius Days.
Tyler Harvey is back once again and will lead the team at the point guard spot, while young gun Lachie Olbrich is expected to be much improved. Sam Froling will also be key to their success once again.
The Hawks also weren’t too flash at the NBL Blitz with only one win from three attempts, although they were experimenting quite a bit with their lineups/substitutions.
Game Prediction: Like most, I’m not too optimistic at all about the Taipans this season. Coach Adam Forde has very little to work with and I can’t see them winning too many games. On the flip side, the Hawks should be fighting for a top four spot and will be keen to hit the ground running on Saturday night. With that said, I like the Hawks to get the game on their terms, which means a slow and methodical approach where defence is priority, and to win comfortably in Perth.
Also Backing: Under 178.5 Points $1.93 (0.5 Units)
Hawks -6.5
$1.91 (1 Unit)
