Sydney Spirit vs Melbourne Tigers
Category: AFL Online
Where and When: Friday 7 November, Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre, 7.30pm (AEDT)
Past Three Head-to-Head
Sydney Spirit 102-112 Melbourne Tigers, Round 1 2008.
Only met once
Season Series
Tigers 1-0
Current Standings
Spirit 4-7 (ninth), Tigers 6-3 (third)
The Sydney Spirit has lost their past two to drop to ninth on the NBL ladder and desperately need a win to get their season back on track.
But the Spirit face a tough task on Friday night with Melbourne starting to click into gear after an indifferent start to the season.
Sam Mackinnon was back to his damaging best against the Gold Coast Blaze in round seven with 23 points, seven rebounds and ten assists in a performance that earned him the Player of the Week award.
Chris Anstey and Ebi Ere were also influential in the win over the Blaze, chiming in with 25 and 24 points respectively.
The Tigers have won their past two and Melbourne’s star trio are high on confidence and will be hard to stop.
In some good news for Rob Beveridge’s men, veteran Jason Smith will make his debut for the club.
Smith will provide guards Damian Martin and Derrick Low with some valuable rest in the latter stages of each quarter but his impact on the contest will be minimal given that he has missed the past eight months with a shoulder injury.
The Spirit were unlucky to lose to ladder leaders the South Dragons last Saturday.
They led by six points two minutes into the final term before Nathan Herbert came to life, dropping 13 of his 19 points in the last six minutes to inspire his side to a memorable victory.
That has been the story of the Spirit’s season thus far – they have pushed sides but their lack of a genuine gamebreaker has proven to be costly.
Expect the same to happen on Friday night with the Tigers simply boasting too many stars for the Spirit to try and shut down let alone match.
The Spirit will battle hard before the Tigers take control and cruises to their third straight win.
This punter is putting his money on a Melbourne win by 11+ points, offering $2.00.