South Conference
For the Monday night conference, I have selected the Kraken vs Unicorns as the match of the round. Last week the Kraken played against the Crocs and they had done it easy winning the game by 29 points. The Kraken Childcare kids really showed up, but it was Cooper Lanting leading all scorers with 24 points & 11 rebounds, Josh Saunders had 13 points & 6 rebounds, Seth Horne had 13 points & 3 steals, Jye Horne had 11 points and Joe Nativo had 10 points & 5 assists. The Unicorns played in one of our crossover games against the Bloodhounds and their old teammate Cooper Rice, but it was the Unicorns who had the last laugh as they were able to beat the Bloodhounds by 5 points. Jake Sutherland had double-double with 10 points & 10 rebounds, Lee Belton had 12 points & 5 rebounds and Greg Wise is getting back to his normal self he had 7 points, 8 rebounds & 5 assists.
The last time these two teams met was back in round 2 and it was the Unicorns who walked away with a 4-point win. Dale Taylor led all scorers for the Unicorns in this game he had 15 points & 10 rebounds, Lee Belton had 13 points and & 8 rebounds and Jake Sutherland had 10 points & 10 rebounds. The Kraken boys really struggled to get it going in this game as they only had 2 players score in double digits, Cooper Lanting led all scorers for the Kraken with 16 points, 7 rebounds & 2 steals and Joey Nativo had 10 points & 5 assists.
The players that were missing from the round 2 clash against these two teams were Ben Rhodes Unicorns big man and now Unicorns player Greg Wise. These 2 players add size, rebounding, scoring, passing and IQ.
This game will be a ripper if the Kraken boys can get going and more than 2 players in double digits this time around. I believe this time round that the Kraken boys will have more than 2 players in double digits as they showed the league last week that they can spread the floor and have a lot of contributors on the scoreboard.
Both teams are playing some very good basketball coming into the business end of the season and are teams to watch coming into the finals. Dale Taylor mentioned last week on the Podcast that the Kraken are a team to watch out for and they could possibly go all the way.
With that being said I am tipping the Kraken in this game and to win by 1 – 10 points.
East Conference
For the Tuesday night conference, I have selected the Ducks vs Bloodhounds as match of the round. Last week the Ducks had a tough game against the Bulls and I think the people in the crowd thought they were going to steal a win in this game. Unfortunately, they went down by just 4 points. The Ducks had 3 players in double digits, Matt Bray (AKA The Schnoz) had a big double-double with 14 points & 14 rebounds, Steve West had 15 points 5/8 from deep & 6 rebounds and Jonathan Bray had 11 points & 8 rebounds. The Bloodhounds had a crossover game against the Unicorns and unfortunately for them they went down by 5 points, but it was their new recruit stealing the show for them Cooper Rice had 16 points & 19 rebounds and was the only player to trouble the score board hitting 16 points out of their 38.
The last time these two teams met was back in round 3, the Bloodhounds had a massive win against the Ducks beating them by 22 points. It was Shane Bajgar doing all the damage with 25 points and Summit Thapa who had 18 points 4/6 deep but was then traded after his solid performance. For the Ducks it was Matt Bray who did the damage with 20 points & 15 rebounds.
Since this game the Bloodhounds have made a lot of trades and have brought in a lot of new players, they have brought in big men Cooper Rice & Trent Wreford, as well as one of Super Leagues favourites - Marty Sanchez. Now, these 3 players did not play for the Bloodhounds last time they played the Ducks and the Ducks were missing their sharp shooter in Steve West.
The Bloodhounds might be big heavy this time round and will be hard to stop on the glass but Steve West can change the whole aspect of this game if he is on.
I am tipping this game to be a close one and I predict we will see big games from Cooper Rice, Matt Bray and Steve West. That being said, Shane Bajger did have a big game against the Ducks last time but I don’t think he gets out in transition like he did last time.
I think the Ducks win between 1 – 10 points.