Round 3 in NBL25 continues on Friday night with an interesting battle between the Cairns Taipans and the Tasmania JackJumpers in Cairns. Both clubs avenged their Round 1 defeats with wins last weekend, so there’s a chance for one of these clubs to start to build some early season momentum. We bring you our preview and best bets for the clash below!
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NBL25 Round 3 Preview & Betting Tips
Cairns Taipans vs Tasmania JackJumpers
Friday 7:30pm AEST, Cairns Convention Centre
The Cairns Taipans were poor in their opening game against the Hawks which resulted in a blowout loss, but they made amends against the 36ers last weekend with a four point victory in their first game of the season at the Cairns Convention Centre.
Import guard Rob Edwards was scorching hot in the win and finished the game with 31 points on 12/17 shooting and 6/8 from deep range. Sam Waardenburg also had one of his best games as a pro with 21 points and 11 rebounds, and it was much-needed as import centre Tanner Groves logged just seven minutes due to foul trouble.
In more positive news for the Snakes, second-year guard Taran Armstrong is expected to return from injury on Friday night. By all reports, coach Forde has given Taran the keys to the offence this season so it’ll be exciting to see how he goes.
The Tasmania JackJumpers first two games have been very similar to their upcoming opponents. They were well beaten in their opening game of the season but bounced back in their second outing, which was also their first home game of NBL25. Both games were against United.
Will Magnay was enormous last weekend and absolutely stuffed the stat sheet. He finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and five blocks. Jordon Crawford also had a much-improved game second up and led the team with 19 points. Import Craig Sword made his NBL debut and came off the bench but had little impact.
Game Prediction: The JackJumpers will start as the clear favourites despite being the travelling side. They’re the defending champs for a reason and have a very similar squad to the one that went all the way last season. At this early point in the season, I expect them to be too consistent across the four quarters for the new-look Snakes.
I also fancy this game going under the current total points line which sits at 175.5 at the time of writing. That seems far too high for a game involving the JackJumpers, who love to play at a slow tempo and run through their sets in the half court. The Snakes will try and make it more of an up-and-down track meet, but I expect this game to be played on the JackJumpers terms, and that should see the unders salute.
Also Backing: JackJumpers -4.5 $1.90 (1 Unit)
Under 175.5 Points
$1.82 (1 Unit)
