The Philadelphia 76ers (30-16 SU, 27-19 ATS) welcome the Brooklyn Nets (29-17, 23-23) to Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday as two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference do battle.
The 76ers opened as the 6.5-point favorite at home and enter Wednesday night on a five-game win streak. Philadelphia has also owned this matchup over the last couple seasons, winning seven of the last nine meetings against Brooklyn while playing at home. Look for a higher-scoring affair as well, as the OVER is 6-0 in Philadelphia’s last six home games and 9-2 in its last 11 contests overall.
Latest Betting Notes: Nets
The Nets eked out a 120-116 win over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday to pick up their second straight victory. Kyrie Irving went off for 38 points to lead the way while Nic Claxton had 24 points and 15 rebounds for a double-double.
Brooklyn continues to battle on without its top scorer, Kevin Durant, who went down a couple weeks ago with a knee injury and is expected to remain out for at least another two weeks.
While Irving has stepped up his production, averaging 38.7 points per game over his last three outings, the Nets haven’t really been able to make up the difference offensively, going 2-4 in Durant’s absence.
Latest Betting Notes: 76ers
The Sixers pulled off a gutsy win in their last game, beating the Sacramento Kings 129-127 to complete a perfect five-game road trip – earning the victory without Joel Embiid and James Harden. Tyrese Maxey topped Philadelphia with 32 points and five others scored 14-plus for Philly in the win.
The 76ers have been rolling and will get at least some help on Wednesday as Harden (foot) is projected to be back in the lineup. Meanwhile, Embiid (foot) is listed as questionable for the game.
Embiid has been on an absolute heater in January, averaging 35.1 points per game – nearly 15 points more than Harden (20.7), who ranks second. Needless to say, the big man would provide a huge boost if he makes his return.
The Keys to Victory: Nets
While both teams will potentially be missing their top players, it still shapes up as a pretty intriguing matchup considering how equally balanced the Nets and Sixers are. Philadelphia and Brooklyn both rank middle of the pack offensively but own two of the top defenses in the NBA at third and fifth, respectively.
That said, the Nets will need a couple things to go their way if they’re going to snap the 76ers’ win streak: another big performance from Irving and some more tight defensive play. Philly has been heating up offensively, though, so that’ll certainly be easier said than done.
The Keys to Victory: 76ers
The Sixers got it done last game and ran up the score against the Kings without Embiid and Harden, so logically they should be even better with Harden making his return. The key in that win was a dominant performance from Maxey coupled with some balanced scoring as Tobias Harris, Montrezl Harrell and Georges Niang scored 17 points apiece.
Like the Nets, the 76ers will want to home in defensively and particularly focus on Irving, who is Brooklyn’s only major offensive threat. Other than that, they’ll just need to keep sharing the rock and the rest should take care of itself.
