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In what shapes as the most lopsided encounter of the season, a Perth Wildcats side gunning for the minor premiership plays host to the Sydney Kings, who have lost their last five. Join The Roar for live scores from 9:30pm (AEDT).
Perth played out one of the most entertaining games of the season in their last match, against Melbourne. The Wildcats came from behind to send the game to overtime, but Stephen Holt was too much to handle.
Despite the narrow defeat, the bookies have installed Perth as $1.05 favourites for this one, giving the Kings a massive 15.5-point start.
Sydney lost both of their games on their Sunshine Swing last week, although to their credit they were very much in with a chance deep into the fourth. As has been characteristic of their season, a couple of players got hot, while others didn’t help their teammates out.
It’s not often you see teams as heavily favoured as Perth are to beat Sydney, but there is a good reason why – the Kings simply cannot handle the Wildcats.
Perth have won both encounters this year, by 18 and 27 points respectively. The bad news doesn’t end there for Kings fans though.
Perth have won 19 of the 20 matches between the teams since Sydney was reinstated into the competition, including every meeting in the west, where Sydney hasn’t got within double digits of the Wildcats since 2010.
As for this season, the Kings led their clash in Sydney by double digits during the third term, before they capitulated in the final quarter. In the most recent game, the Kings trailed by just a basket at halftime, before they offered no resistance in the second half to go down heavily.
Defensive pressure is all Perth needs to win this match. Sydney have crumbled time and time again when teams pressure the dribbler and shut down their options, and give up far too many turnovers when opponents employ a press.
Perth have the firepower to blow the Kings out of the water early, and send a statement to Melbourne that they’re not out of the minor premiership race.
Sydney need to hang tough. Perth will come out all guns blazing, and if the Kings are to have the slightest chance of pulling off the upset of the season, they’ll have to keep up for the entire 40 minutes. But the way they’ve performed in the west suggests that they’ll struggle to stay with them for 20.
Prediction
Perth will use this game to fine-tune rotations and get key players in form for the business end of the season.
Wildcats by 22.
Join The Roar for live scores of this NBL Round 18 match from 9:30pm (AEDT), and don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re following along.
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