Cleveland Cavaliers vs Philadelphia 76ers betting tips and predictions for Wednesday’s NBA game on ESPN. It’s the regular season series decider between the Cavaliers and 76ers as they meet for the 3rd and final time this season. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Cleveland Cavaliers
With both teams winning on their home court in the 2 meetings so far this season, tonight’s game will decide who has the tie-breaker in a hypothetical tie in the standings at the end of the season. It may not even come to that as the Cavs trail the Sixers by 3 games, but a win tonight evens the two teams in the win column so there’s plenty of motivation for Cleveland to get the win here.
They’re just coming back home after a mini 3-game road trip, at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse they’ve gone 28-7 SU this season which makes them one of the toughest home teams in the NBA. One thing that could hinder their chances here is the status of Jarrett Allen who is questionable with an eye injury.
Philadelphia 76ers
The Joel Embiid MVP campaign continued with yet another 76ers win as they beat the Washington Wizards by 19 points at home. It was their 5th win in a row, with Embiid scoring 34 points in just 31 minutes played. Tonight’s game against the Cavs will be a tough one, but there won’t be a lack of optimism in the Sixers camp as they’ve beaten Cleveland 6 times in the last 7 meetings.
This team is also 13-3 SU in their last 16 road games, plus they have the best record in the NBA over the last 40 games or so, ever since James Harden returned to the line-up after his injury. Only 1 game is between them and the Celtics who are in the 2nd seed, and Philly will definitely want to capitalize on Boston’s shocking loss to Houston the other night with a win here.
It’s hard to look past Embiid here, especially if Allen doesn’t play. Cleveland would then lose the only option they have down low to slow down the big fella. I’ll be backing the 76ers here as they’ve beaten 4 of their last 5 Eastern Conference opponents.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Philadelphia 76ers Predictions & Odds
With so much at stake here, I don’t think either team will allow this game to get out of hand in terms of pace. These are the 30th and 26th ranked teams respectively when it comes to possessions per game, so I think it’s pretty safe to say we’re not going to see a lot of points scored here. Defense has been the calling card for the Cavaliers all season long, they have the 2nd best defensive efficiency numbers at 107.5 points allowed per 100 possessions.
Philadelphia also likes to rely on that end, allowing 110 points, they just held 2 of their last 3 opponents to under 100 points. The last time these two teams met in Cleveland, we saw only 198 points scored, they’ve trended in that direction for quite some time now with 6 of the last 7 meetings there finishing under the total. Expect the pace of this game to go down and a lot of defense to be played, back the under.
