Sports Betting, Sports News, Sports Updates, Australia

Where and When: Wednesday 4 March, Hisense Arena, 7.30pm (AEDT)

Past Three Head-to-Head
South Dragons 93-83 Melbourne Tigers, Round 21 2009.
Melbourne Tigers 92-86 South Dragons, Round 20 2009.
Melbourne Tigers 98-107 South Dragons, Round 13 2008.

Season Series
Dragons 3-1

Final Standings
Dragons 22-8 (first), Tigers 20-10 (second)

The South Dragons will enter this grand final series with plenty of confidence given that they have won three of the four matches against the Melbourne Tigers this season.

But the Tigers are the defending champions and have several big-game players that know what it takes to get the job done, so this series could go either way.

The last time these two sides met in round 21 South Dragons import Donta Smith scored a team-high 21 points to help his side to a 10-point win.

Smith is at his dangerous best when he is penetrating and attacking the basket and the Tigers will need to stop him if they are going to get a crucial win away from home.

Melbourne’s defensive specialist Tommy Greer, who is likely to match-up on Joe Ingles, will get the job on Smith when he comes off the bench.

Greer will need to apply plenty of defensive pressure all night and deny Smith any time or space as he is capable of turning a game on its head in the space of a quarter.

For the Tigers, Ebi Ere was instrumental in his side’s comeback win over the New Zealand Breakers in game two with a game-high 26 points.

The former Brisbane Bullet has plenty of big-game experience and looms as the main man the Dragons must stop if they are going to take a one-nil lead in the best-of-five series.

Ere is more than capable of getting to the basket and is damaging from three-point land, so stopping him will be a difficult task.

South Dragons import Tremmell Darden is expected to be given the task of guarding Ere in what shapes as being a crucial match-up in determining the outcome of this match.

Expect Darden, who has averaged 11.1 points per game this season., to be aggressive at the offensive end early and try and get Ere in foul trouble.

Melbourne centre Chris Anstey has been his side’s most consistent player this season and is the other man the Dragons must contain.

Anstey has been the Tigers’ leading scorer in three of the four Melbourne derbies this season and led the rebound count for his side on all four occasions.

The Dragons will need the likes of Matt Burston and Nick Horvath to apply plenty of defensive pressure inside the paint and prevent Anstey from crashing the boards and creating easy second chance scoring opportunities.

This match could go either way but the South Dragons are virtually unbeatable at home.

In their last win over the Tigers in round 21 the Dragons had six players in double figures while Ingles, who is starting to return to some of his best form, chimed in with nine points.

And it is the home-court advantage and their scoring depth that should see them prevail in a tight one.

Three of the four clashes between these two sides this season have been decided by 10 points or less, so with this in mind, my money is on a Dragons’ win by 1-10, offering $2.85.