With a three game lead atop the standings, it looks like the Philadelphia 76ers will enter the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 overall seed. That is unless a major catastrophe plays out through Sunday and the Brooklyn Nets somehow find a way to leapfrog their way into the top spot. With successive home games set to go against the Orlando Magic, the odds of that occurring at online sportsbooks are very long. But before that goes down, the Sixers will hit the road for the final time in the regular season on Thursday night when they venture into South Beach to square off against a Miami Heat team looking to hold onto the No. 6 seed if not surpass Atlanta in the standings and swipe the No. 5 along with the Southeast Division title. Though the Heat have already lost the season rivalry to the 76ers, they’re likely to be installed decided favorites to win this game at online sportsbooks with all the injuries Philly is currently dealing with.
This Eastern Conference heavyweight bout is set to go down live on Thursday, May 13, 2021. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET from the American Airlines Arena with the game broadcast live on TNT. We'll have NBA odds and player props available at BookMaker.eu for this and every game on tonight’s NBA slate.
NBA Betting Lines at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
It’s been a very successful 2020-21 campaign for the 76ers who have 47 overall wins under the belt heading into Tuesday night which represents the third highest win total in the league behind the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns. Philadelphia owns winning marks both at home (27-7) and on the road (20-14), but has only been lucrative investments for NBA bettors at home (20-13-1 ATS) as opposed to the road (16-15-3 ATS). That said, the 76ers have come out victorious in each of their last three road tilts (2-1 ATS) after getting the best of the Spurs, Bulls and Rockets. Miami hasn’t been able to build off its unforeseen run in the bubble of a season ago. The defending Eastern Conference champs only sit six games over .500 overall and enter the week owners of a losing 31-35-2 ATS record. While the team has won 20 of 35 home games, the end results haven’t paid off at the window with the Heat just 14-19-2 ATS as hosts. This however will be the first time they’ll host the 76ers this season, and they went 3-0 SU and 2-1 ATS the prior three times with the over cashing in all three matchups.
Philadelphia 76ers
After escaping the Pelicans its previous game, Philadelphia wasted no time letting it be known that they wouldn’t be getting caught with their pants down against a putrid Detroit team. The Sixers erupted for a 17 point first quarter lead then coasted to log the 118-114 win and cover as near 10-point favorites. Though the Pistons 49 percent success rate from the field matched their output, Philadelphia would still go on to run away and hide by taking advantage of the foul prone Pistons in knocking down 27 of 31 free throw attempts. Joel Embiid drained all six of his, while Dwight Howard would surprisingly convert six of his eight attempts. The win was the team’s 26th and cover the 20th in front of the hometown faithful!
Miami Heat
Don’t look now, but Erik Spoelstra’s troops are rounding into playoff form. Since dropping three in a row on the road to the Suns, Nuggets and Timberwolves, Miami has been one of the hottest teams in the league by winning nine of their last 12 games. More importantly, they went on to cover the closing NBA odds in all but four of those matchups. The win streak moved to two straight last time out in the Garden where Jimmy Butler’s team-high 26 points propelled the Heat to the 130-124 outright win and cover against the Boston Celtics; he came a pair of rebounds shy of logging a triple-double. While the defense had no answer for Jayson Tatum (29) or Evan Fournier (30), Miami’s offense made it a moot point by scorching the nylon for a 57 percent success rate.
Philadelphia vs. Miami Prediction
I’m not exactly sure Philadelphia comes to play in this one. Why go all out against an upper echelon opponent when you can just sit back and have a few drinks while at the very least split their final two games of the year against the G League Orlando Magic? It’s certainly within the realm of possibility that Doc Rivers elects to rest a number of his big guns knowing full well his guys only need to win one of its final four regular season games to lock down the No. 1 overall seed. With that, Miami is the team playing for much more in this tilt with its playoff fate likely not decided until the last game of the regular season. I lean towards the Heat and the under pre-game, but would love to see Philadelphia get out to a substantial early lead so I can hit the Heat plus the points as well as on the moneyline on the readjusted live betting in-game odds.
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