Round 14 in NBL25 gets underway on Boxing Day with an intriguing contest that pits the Cairns Taipans up against Melbourne United. Both clubs can’t buy a win at the moment, and of them gets to snap a lengthy losing streak on Thursday night. As always, we have you covered with a full preview 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 14 Preview & Betting Tips
Cairns Taipans vs Melbourne United
Thursday 7:30pm AEDT (Dec 26), Cairns Convention Centre
The Cairns Taipans tried hard but came up short once again against the Bullets last outing, losing 104-107 despite leading for the majority of the game. That was their 12th loss on the spin since starting the season 3-1, and they’ve now gone more than 11 weeks since tasting victory.
The good news for the Snakes is that they’re starting to get all of their key players back from injury. Sam Waardenburg is the only starter currently dealing with an ailment as he continues to rehab from a strained ligament in his thumb. His return date is currently listed as ‘Round 14’ on the official NBL injury list, although at the time of writing there’s been no news about whether or not he’ll be suiting up on Thursday night.
Melbourne United are officially in a rut as they enter Round 14 on a four-game losing streak. They were outhustled and outgunned by the JackJumpers in their most recent outing, as they went down by six points on home soil. United have played 12 of their past 16 games at home but will now hit the road for the last part of December and the entirety of January.
United’s recent skid has seen them fall three games behind the Hawks at the top of the standings, although they remain inside the top two for the time being. The good news is both Chris Goulding and Marcus Lee made successful returns from injury last start, and United now have a clean bill of health coming into Round 14.
Game Prediction: Clearly, neither side is in any sort of positive form right now, so it’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out. United are obviously the much-stronger side, so it’s expected they will be the ones that snap their losing streak. On top of that, they absolutely smashed the Snakes by 43 points when they last met which was at John Cain Arena on October 27.
However, the play here for me is the unders in the total points market. The Snakes, while losing 12 in a row, have held up reasonably well on the defensive end during that stretch while conceding over 100 points on just three occasions. United are also one of the better defensive teams in the competition despite recent results, ranking third in defensive efficiency. The current total points line is around the 200 mark at most agencies, and I’m happy to take the unders at that number.
Under 199.5 Points
$1.88 (1.5 Units)
