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Perth Wildcats vs Melbourne United Live Stream & Tips - Cotton to score 30+ in pivotal NBL semi-final Game 2

Ryan Tucker

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Last updated: 28 Feb 2025

Ryan Tucker 28 Feb 2025

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Perth Wildcats vs Melbourne United expert predictions for Saturday’s Semi-Final NBL matchup
Wildcats need a win to force Game 3 against Melbourne
Melbourne in strong form after first semi-final win

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Perth Wildcats and Melbourne United (Getty Images)

Perth Wildcats vs Melbourne United Preview
Head to Head
Perth Wildcats Form
Melbourne United Form

Perth Wildcats vs Melbourne United Preview

Perth must win in they are to force a decider in Melbourne on Tuesday having lost Game 1 of the semi-final series.

Take the Wildcats to win and cover the line, forcing a Game 3 decider. Bryce Cotton will need to score 30 pts for it to happen so take him in the points markets.

Perth are 10-2 this season when Bryce Cotton scored 30+ points.
The Wildcats have a 63% win rate at home over the past 4 seasons.
7 of the last 10 games at RAC Arena have gone Over the Game Total.
Bryce Cotton averaged 32.3 pts per game across the last 5 rounds of the season.

Head to Head

2024/25 Semi Final Series

Feb 27th 25: Melbourne United 105-93 Perth Wildcats

2024/25 Match Results

Jan 22nd 25: Perth 93-99 Melbourne

Nov 9th 24: Melbourne 106-97 Perth

Oct 4th 24: Perth 68-97 Melbourne

Perth Wildcats Form

The Wildcats could not shut down Chris Goulding in their first semi-final game on Thursday at John Cain Arena.

Defensively there was not much difference in the intensity from the regular season and their opponents took advantage of that especially Goulding who hit 10-17 from beyond the arc. They forced only eight turnovers which resulted in just two points.

Bryce Cotton was averaging 24.4 field goal attempts over the last 5 rounds of the regular season but took just 12 shots in this game despite hitting at 66%. The team also took four more shots in the game compared to their season average of 75 meaning those shots went to other people on the team.

Coach John Rillie has a task on his hands to adjust the rotations and mindset of the team to ensure they get one back on home court.

Melbourne United Form

Melbourne United put on a clinic in the 3rd quarter hitting 71% of their shots on the way to victory in the first semi-final game. Chris Goulding equaled a season high 10 made three pointers putting up 41 pts on the night.

United’s bench also outpaced their opponents scoring a healthy 37 pts compared to the Wildcats 13. Ian Clark was the major contributor with 22 pts while Marcus Lee added 10 pts and 7 boards.

The defence was strong from the get go for the home team as they restricted Perth to just 17 pts in the first quarter. Bryce Cotton was only afforded half of his season average field goal attempts while the turnovers forced were key to adding extra possessions.

Melbourne also had 26 assists on 38 made field goals in the game, one of the highest marks of the season for the team who led the league in assists.

Verdict

Perth Wildcats v Melbourne United

Take Perth to win and cover. These games at RAC have been historically high scoring and Perth will need to push the pace to win, take the over.

Perth -3.5

Line

@9/10 - 1 Unit

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Game Total

@9/10 - 1 Unit

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