NBL playoffs tips & value odds for Melbourne vs. New Zealand

Thursday, February 18, 7:30pm AEST at Hisense Arena – watch on Fox Sports

THE NBL playoffs have arrived and we’ve got a beauty to kick things off.

Melbourne United and the New Zealand Breakers have been two of the best-backed teams throughout the 2015/2016 season. They now face each other in a three-game series to decide which team will play for the NBL title.

United come into game as the team with the best record in the NBL. Their 18 wins from 28 games is slightly better than the Breakers, which are only two wins back on 16. It’s 1 vs. 4 on the table, but there is nothing separating these two teams and the momentum heading into the game this Thursday is interesting to say the least.

You would expect league leaders Melbourne United to hold all the momentum heading into the finals, but it’s the Breakers which have continued their dominance against United. The defending champions have won their past three games against Melbourne, which includes a double-header last week.

Melbourne might be regretting resting their stars for the first game of that double-header, but the Breakers seized the opportunity and played themselves into dangerous form.

Punters are siding with United, but they aren’t letting the Breakers out of their sights, knowing just how good they are come finals time.

United vs. Breakers odds and best bets

Melbourne United – $1.55 at Sportsbet.com.au
New Zealand Breakers – $2.45

United got as low as $1.47 in the betting earlier this week, but has since drifted out to a more fancied price. Punters typically favour the home team when betting the NBL and with United having won their last seven of 10 at Hisense Arena, that bodes well for home punters.

New Zealand’s record away from home has been a mixed bag this season. They lost four consecutive away games this season which included losses to Cairns and Townsville which both failed to make the playoffs.

They did, however, win their final two away games against the tough-to-beat Adelaide 36ers and Melbourne United last Sunday night. Apart from that win, United were able to win their most recent home game against the Breakers by one point.

With this game being tough to predict, we think the best way to make money is by backing both teams in the Big Win Little Win market with Sportsbet.com.au.

United 1-10 $3.00
United 11+ $3.00
Breakers 1-10 $3.50
Breakers 11+ $6.50

It’s not exactly an exciting bet to place, but taking both United and Breakers 1-10 should give punters a great chance at making money.

We can’t see either team being blown out of the water, especially in the finals, and the odds on offer for both options are better than we expected.

Spending $20 on both options will either return $60 or $70, giving you a profit which isn’t guaranteed, but it looks to be the best betting strategy for this game.

For punters wanting to place a futures bet on the NBL, all the odds are available at CrownBet.com.au where Melbourne United are the favourites to win, despite a likely tough series against the Breakers. United are at $2.75 and the Breakers are the value pick at $5.50 with their home game being played at Vector Arena this Saturday.

Game one prediction: United 86 – Breakers 82