Philadelphia 76ers vs Brooklyn Nets betting tips and predictions for Saturday’s NBA Playoffs game on ESPN. The Sixers and Nets get us going in the NBA postseason as they clash at Wells Fargo Center in Game 1 of their series. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia thoroughly dominated the regular season series against the Nets winning all 4 games. The two teams actually met less than a week ago and the Sixers crushed Brooklyn 134-105, but both teams rested most of their star power so I’m not sure how much weight we should put into that game.
Nevertheless, Philly opens as 8.5 favorites in Game 1, they finished the regular season 25-16 ATS in home games. On the injury front they are pretty much set, aside from Dewayne Dedmon who is questionable. Joel Embiid wrapped up the regular season by winning yet another scoring title, he also finished as the frontrunner for the MVP award, but now the serious business begins.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets don’t really have anything to lose here. Before trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving they were a top 4 seed in the East, but since then they had a losing record so most people are expecting them to win 1 or maybe 2 games in this series. Led by Bridges who flourished offensively since being acquired from Phoenix, their offense is evenly distributed between several players without anyone sticking out in particular. This team is far better on defense than on offense and that will be their calling card in the series opener. However, slowing down Joel Embiid will be an issue as they aren’t all that equipped down low to handle a player of his size.
Brooklyn has covered in 4 of 5 meetings vs Philly on the road, they capped off the regular season winning 5 of 7 games and in away games they are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games. All the pressure is on Philadelphia here as everyone is expecting them to deliver a huge win in the home opener. I’m not sure if that’s realistic, Philadelphia should still win, but this being the postseason I think Brooklyn will manage to keep this game close. Back the Nets to cover.
Philadelphia 76ers vs Brooklyn Nets Predictions & Odds
I’m actually surprised the projected total is at just 214.5 points here, the two teams exceeded that number fairly easily in 3 of the 4 meetings during the regular season. If we expand that to their last 10 games head-to-head we can see an average of 228.4 points per game scored. It is normal to expect the game slowing down in the playoffs, but the Sixers have trended towards the over quite a lot lately cashing on that bet 4 times in their last 6 games and in 9 of their last 12 played on a Saturday.
Brooklyn has struggled defending the paint lately allowing 52.7 points per game from that area in their last 3 games, that’s music to the ears of Joel Embiid here who is looking to make a statement with a big game. After witnessing to 239 points scored in the game played in Brooklyn just 6 days ago I think these two are more than capable of going over the total here. Back the points.
