Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics betting tips and predictions for Thursday’s NBA Playoffs game on ESPN. MVP Joel Embiid and his Sixers have an opportunity to put the Boston Celtics away as they host Game 6 holding a 3-2 lead in their best-of-7 series. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Philadelphia 76ers
After a stunner in Game 5 on the road and a 12-point victory, Philadelphia has a chance to move on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001. Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey recorded 33 and 30 points in the win on Tuesday, while James Harden had 17 and 10 assists. Defense was the focal point for Doc Rivers in that game and the team fully executed his game plan holding Boston under 40% efficiency from the floor.
This team is now 9-2 SU in their last 11 games, plus they’ve covered the spread in 8 of those games. Moving back to Wells Fargo Center will be huge for them as they’re 6-2 SU in their last 8 games there, however vs the Celtics they’re just 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games so caution will be advised here.
Boston Celtics
Only 3 Celtics players scored in double figures in Game 5. After another rough start where he went 0-for-5 in the first quarter, Jayson Tatum picked it up and finished with 36 to lead all scorers. Jaylen Brown also added 24, but defensively the Celtics were nowhere to be found as they allowed Philly to shoot over 50% from the field and got outrebounded by 13 on the glass.
Head coach Joe Mazulla also came under a lot of heat for not calling timeouts late in games, we could see a lot of changes made to this team next season if they are to get eliminated tonight. Boston won’t go out without a proper fight though, they’ve covered the spread in 7 of their last 10 games vs Philly and are still 11-5 SU in their last 16 games as favorites. The oddsmakers have set them as 2.5 point favorites to win Game 6, they’ve already won once in Philadelphia during this series.
Regardless of the Game 5 loss, I’m still not counting out the Celtics here. This team has been in this situation before, just last season against Milwaukee they were able to come back and win the series after being 3-2 down. Give me the Celtics to cover here.
Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics Predictions & Odds
As odd as it might sound, this has been a defensive minded series so far despite the over cashing in 4 of the 5 games played. The main reason why this keeps happening is because the oddsmakers have set the projected total very low in these games. Once again the number has gone down a bit and is now at 212.5 points. Game 6 is going to be a battle, pressure will be on Philadelphia to close out the series, but also on the Celtics to keep their season alive. Nerves might also play a role here, it’s never easy putting away a team.
Boston has looked nothing like the team we saw during the regular season when they held teams to the 5th lowest point average per game. It’s time for them to return to their roots here and put their clamps on the Sixers, that is the only way they are surviving this road game. Only 2 teams in these Playoffs played a slower pace than the Sixers in home games, so I expect a low scoring game here. Back the under.
