The Philadelphia 76ers enter the playoffs as the hottest team in the NBA. Can the inexperienced up-and-comers keep it going when the heat turns up? The most intriguing team in the Eastern Conference has wrapped up the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and will face off against the No. 6 seed Miami Heat in the first round.
Philadelphia was a perennial laughingstock in the East the past several years but the plan to tank and accumulate young, talented pieces has finally paid off. The 76ers should be favored in this matchup based on the way they are playing but the postseason is a different animal. Miami has more playoff experience and it will be interesting to see how this series plays out in NBA basketball odds.
Game 1 of this NBA Playoff Series will be held at the Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for every game of the 2018 NBA Playoffs.
Odds Analysis
The 76ers went 52-30 this season with a record of 47-33-2 against the spread as they outperformed expectations. Philadelphia was very good at home, covering in 27 of 41 tries. The 76ers went 33-21 against the spread as the favorite on the year.
The Heat finished the regular season with a 44-38 record and grabbed the No. 6 seed by virtue of a tiebreaker over the Bucks, who had an identical record. Milwaukee is facing off against the injury-riddled Celtics in the first round, so it remains to be seen if finishing higher will actually benefit the Heat or be a detriment. Miami went 40-36-6 against the spread this season, including a 24-15-2 record against the spread on the road. The Heat has gone 22-15-3 against the spread as the underdog.
Key Stat
16. That’s how many games in a row that Philadelphia has won coming into this matchup against Miami. The 76ers, despite being without star center Joel Embiid right now, ended the season on a high note with 121-113 win over Atlanta and a 130-95 win against Milwaukee.
Embiid suffered an injury to his left eye in late March that required surgery and sidelined him for the last eight games of the season. He is considered day-to-day headed the playoffs. The perfect finish is a good sign that Philadelphia could survive a few games without him this postseason if needed.
Included in that late-season winning streak were victories against Cleveland and Minnesota. The 76ers have watched Ben Simmons blossom into a star and he is leading this team into the postseason scorching hot.
Previous Meetings
The Heat and 76ers split four games during the regular season, which Miami hopes is a precursor to how competitive this series will be. The 76ers emerged victorious in the first matchup by a score of 103-97. The advantage moved to 2-0 in the series when Philadelphia squeezed out a 104-102 win 12 days later behind a triple-double from Simmons.
Miami evened things out with a one-point win on Feb. 27 and a 108-99 outcome most recently in early March. All the games were decided by single digits but the 76ers have hit another gear of late, so it is up to the betting public to decide whether the Heat will be talented enough to possibly pull off the upset in NBA basketball gambling.
Free NBA ATS Picks
This is a hard one to peg because the 76ers are such strangers to the postseason. Miami has a good team and it would not be a surprise to see the higher-seeded 76ers go down. The Heat are a formidable foe, but the belief here is that the 76ers continue to play at a high level and advance to the second round.
In fact, it’s not a stretch to think Philadelphia can make the Eastern Conference Finals. Keep an eye on Embiid’s health as his potential return will be a big boost for the 76ers. Either way, they should be able to capture this series.
Take the 76ers to knock off the Heat in seven games in NBA basketball odds.
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