Centrum Tigers beat Nidaros Jets 91 to 60 in the Norwegian basketball league on Saturday evening. The hosts took control early and never let the visitors back into the game. It was a straightforward evening for the fifth-placed side and a continuing struggle for the ninth-place visitors.
There were no dramatic swings or comebacks to speak of. The scoreline tells you everything about how the game played out, and by then it was clear what was going to happen. Tigers worked the ball well enough to keep finding open looks, while Jets could not string together a meaningful run at either end.
We had called Tigers to win this one at 64 per cent confidence, and that holds up. It is not always easy to back a side when the table looks wide open, but the gap between these two has been growing for a while now. Tigers have the depth and the rhythm that Jets simply do not have at this stage of the season.
The standings tell the story without much interpretation. Tigers sit on 15 wins from 27 games with no draws and 12 losses, while Jets have managed just six victories and 21 defeats. There is no point chase happening here for either side, but the gap in quality is now impossible to ignore.
Tigers have not been flawless of late, losing 85-61 to Consberg Miners and 83-47 to Froya Basket in their last two outings. Jets are worse off still, having dropped 113-70 to Consberg and 96-82 to Bærum. Neither side is in great form, but Tigers at least know how to close out a game when it matters.
This result keeps Tigers in fifth place and extends Jets' winless run to three games across all competitions. The table goes out of the window in these games, but the message is still the same. Tigers need to keep pressing forward, while Jets are running out of games to salvage something from this season.
