NBL1 Central Round 7 Preview

Their goals are different but both Samuels and Levicki will be looking to lead their respective sides to victory, in the Lions case their best chance may have arrived. Picture by Archie Creative 

4-Minute Read

Saturday 21/05/2022

Norwood Flames vs Eastern Mavericks – (ARC – The Firedome)

Women (6:00pm)

The Flames are looking to climb themselves back up into the top four while the Mavs are trying to lift themselves back into the middle of the table. With a tough double header for both this weekend this looms as a must win. The Mavs have the ability to stop Wilson and Basham having had both play for them in the past. Lefebvre-Okankwu looks the game breaker here as in both of the Flames losses it’s been a dominant post player (Williams and Levicki) that have caused them the most problems. Defensively the Mavs can keep the scores low and if the sole SA Sapphire in Bradley can hit the scoreboard; they are a big chance at an upset here.       

Key Stat – The Mavs in all games keep their opponents to 73.8 points or less

ESPN Prediction: Mavericks by 4 points

Men (7:45pm)

The record for Norwood is that they’ve beaten West and South in the bottom part of the table and while the Mavs are winless this looms as a huge danger game for the homes side. The former clubman James Legan returns, and Anthony Green will have his hands full with an inform Koop McCalop. Points on the scoreboard has been a problem for the Flames mainly due to rebounding; so McBride needs to grab 20+ for this team to win as Harding has been producing consistently. I think this is the game Green reminds us how good he is as he’s produced double figures back to back leading in and ready for a monster.

Key Stat – Both teams rank second last and last in rebounds per game with 34.8 and 36.6

ESPN Prediction: Flames by 7 points