After getting run off the floor in Game 5, the Philadelphia 76ers will look to keep their season alive when they host the Toronto Raptors in Game 6 tonight. The Sixers are in a hole because they’ve gotten virtually no help from Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, who have combined for 41 points over the last two games, which were both losses. Books have opened the Raptors as 2-point favorites with a total of 213.
STANDOUT STATS
- Joel Embiid can make or break this series for the Sixers and his health will be a key factor going into Game 6. The big man has only really had one good game scoring the basketball – in Game 3 – and has scored 16 or fewer points in four of five games in this series.
- Embiid and Ben Simmons only combined for 20 points in Game 5 and Simmons has been a complete no-show on offense in this series. The second-year point guard scored 14 points in Game 1 and his output has dropped in each game since.
- Outside of Game 4, first halves in this series have usually been decided by a large margin. The Sixers have led by double digits in two of five games at the half while the Raptors had a double-digit lead in Game 1 and Game 5 at the break. Tonight’s first-half spread is a pick’em.
- The Sixers will likely try to double-team Kawhi Leonard tonight because he has been a one-man wrecking crew vs them. In five games of the series, Leonard is averaging 34.6 points per game and has shot 58.3 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from behind the arc. In three regular-season games vs the Sixers, Kawhi averaged 30.3 points per game while shooting 50 percent from behind the arc.
- Three-point shooting has not come easy for the Sixers in the postseason and they are only hitting 32.9 percent of their shots, which is last among the remaining playoff teams. The Raptors have also been terrible from behind the arc as they’re only averaging 34.5 percent on an average of 32.5 attempts.
- The UNDER has hit in eight of the Raptors’ 10 playoff games (avg. combined score: 198.4) while the UNDER has also hit in five of the last six games in this matchup.
My Best Bet for Raptors-Sixers
OVER 213
I think the pace has picked up in this series as these two teams have started to figure out their respective game plans and after the media has buried Embiid and Simmons, I expect them both to at least show up and combine for a minimum of 30 points tonight. This is why I prefer the OVER instead of taking the spread because these teams can’t keep regressing in three-point shooting forever and I anticipate a big shooting night from JJ Redick and Tobias Harris. If you can’t decide on the total, I would lean to Raptors -2.
