The Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets square off tonight for the first time in 2021. The Sixers are leading the Eastern Conference with a record of 7-1. Brooklyn is 8th with a record of 4-4. The Sixers were projected to be the 5th team in the conference while the Nets were slotted as 3rd best team.
The Sixers have won 5 straight games while the Nets have only won 1 game in a row. Philly defeated the Wizards last night 141 - 136. The Nets crushed the Jazz on Tuesday by a score of 130-96.
The Nets will be without Kevin Durant who is unable to play due to COVID protocol restrictions. They are also without Spencer Dinwiddie who is out for the season with an ACL injury. The Sixers will be without 2 reserves, Mike Scott and Furkan Korkmaz with minor injuries.
The loss of Durant is significant because he is the leading scorer with 28.2 a game. Joel Embiid is leading the Sixers with 25.3 points and 11.7 rebounds. Kyrie Irving will be looking to increase his scoring during Durant’s absence. He is averaging 27.1 points with a team leading average of 6.1 rebounds per game.
Tobias Harris was named NBA Eastern Conference Player of the week. He has scored over 18 points in his last 5 games. He has taken an average of 16 shots per game in that period. He is projected to score 19.5 at a price of -116 if you take the over and -106 for under. Harris is hot so the over is the play. On top of that, there is no Durant to defend him. Look at Harris over 7.0 rebounds if you are sold on his continued increase in productivity.
Kyrie Irving scoring total is set at 28.5. The price is -120 for over and -102 under. Irving has taken 87 shots in the last 4 games. The highest number of shots he has taken in a game was 27 and that included 11 threes. Expect the same tonight against the Sixers. Embiid patrolling the paint will have Irving looking to score from outside. Lean toward the over! Caris LeVert over 17.5 is also a good option.
The line on the game is Sixers -2.5. The total is 225. The Sixers are playing strong defensively and are ranked in the top 5. The Nets scoring total for the game is set at 111.5. Since this is a back-to-back, I do not expect an increase of defensive intensity after giving up 136. Nets over 111.5.
The game should be high scoring. No Durant gives Sixers the edge. Look for revenge by the Nets when they play again. Sixers and over tonight.
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