Round 18 in NBL25 begins on Thursday night with a battle between the bottom-of-the-ladder Cairns Taipans and the ladder-leading Illawarra Hawks. Funnily enough, it was the Taipans who won their most recent battle, so what can we expect on Thursday? We bring you our thoughts and best bet for the game 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 18 Preview & Betting Tips
Cairns Taipans vs Illawarra Hawks
Thursday 7:30pm AEDT (Jan 23), Cairns Convention Centre
The Cairns Taipans are up against the Illawarra Hawks in what’s shaping up as a real mismatch. The Taipans are bottom of the ladder at 5-19, while the Hawks are flying high on top with a 17-8 record. Still, Cairns can take some confidence into this one—they caused the biggest shock of the season earlier this month, beating the Hawks in Wollongong 108-105. That win showed they can hang with the best, but with the Hawks in red-hot form and on a two-game win streak, this feels like a tall order for the home side.
The Taipans had a rough one last game, losing by 24 to the 36ers, but they’ve picked up two wins in their last five, which is something. Taran Armstrong’s been in great form, but there’s a big question mark over whether he’ll play with back soreness, and the signs aren’t looking good. Tanner Groves has been solid, while Rob Edwards has been up and down—he’s dropped 25+ points in three of his last five but can go quiet too. Sam Waardenburg, who’s having his best season, is in a bit of a slump right now, scoring just nine points across his last two games. The Taipans will need everything to click to pull off another upset.
On the other hand, the Hawks are on a roll. They’ve won four of their last five, and their last two games were blowout wins—smashing the Bullets by 34 and United by 22. Sam Froling has been dominant lately, while Trey Kell has been steady, though not scoring heaps in recent games. Losing Darius Days to a hamstring injury is a bit of a setback, but the Hawks have plenty of weapons and should handle it fine. They thumped the Taipans by 27 points back in September and will want to make sure there’s no repeat of that shock loss from earlier this month.
Honestly, it’s hard to see the Taipans pulling off another miracle here. The Hawks are in great form, and they’ll be out to prove a point after that unexpected loss to Cairns last time. If Armstrong doesn’t play, it makes things even tougher for the Taipans. The Hawks should be too strong and will likely cruise to their third straight win.
Hawks -11.5
$1.91 (1 Unit)
