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Do you remember in the movie “The Sting,” when Paul Newman’s character, Henry Gondorff, told Robert Redford’s character, Johnny Hooker, that “Revenge is for suckers”?
In looking at sports like the NBA, we’re not sure about that. In fact, we think we have an interesting proposition here, as a team that has gotten itself together is chomping at the bit to get a piece of opponent that throttled them while wounded last time.
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That would be the Philadelphia 76ers, looking for another crack at the Portland Trail Blazers, who are going to be short-handed for a while, with guard CJ McCollum and center Jusuf Nurkic sitting out.
We’ll talk about what makes this a good game for you to play at 1Vice.
Philadelphia 76ers at Portland Trail Blazers Picks
76ers vs. Trail Blazers Betting Trends
Tip-off: 10:05 PM ET
NBA Betting Odds: 76ers -5.5, Total 229.5
The Sixers are on fire, you might say, as they have won six of their last seven games to take control of first place in the Eastern Conference with an 18-7 record (15-9-1 ATS).
And really, the East is kind of there for the taking, with the Milwaukee Bucks having more or less failed in the playoffs the last couple of seasons; the Miami Heat getting off to a slow start; the Brooklyn Nets still trying to round into form; the Boston Celtics struggling due to lack of depth, and the Toronto Raptors perhaps finally feeling the residual effects of having lost Kawhi Leonard.
Philadelphia, as you probably know, made changes on the sidelines and in the front office, snagging coach Doc Rivers after he was let go by the Clippers and bringing aboard Director of Operations Daryl Morey after he was let go by Houston.
By all accounts, this was expected to result in more discipline on the floor and a sharpened approach to the analytical part of the game.
The Blazers (13-10 SU, 11-12 ATS) have had to fight their way through injury problems, They were missing Damian Lillard when they lined up against the Sixers on February 4 at the Wells Fargo Center.
The conventional wisdom was that without their top scorer, who is really a premier point-producer in the NBA, along with backcourt mate McCollum and Nurkic, they may have been a little lost offensively, but such was not the case, as they got a combined 46 points out of Gary Trent and Carmelo Anthony and cruised to a 121-105 win over a Philly squad that may have been caught napping, save for Joel Embiid, who had 37 points.
Anthony also had 23 points on Tuesday night in a win over Orlando, and he passed Oscar Robertson to get to 12th on the all-time scoring list.
Such a thing is worth noting for America’s Bookie patrons because with ‘Melo, it seems it has been about numbers first and everything else second. No team with him as a main cog has ever gone very far in the playoffs. But with Portland he seems to be okay with his role, as he winds down his NBA career.
It should be stressed that Ben Simmons was not in the lineup when Portland had previously taken a bit out of these Sixers, and even though he is not much of a shooter from the outside, his ability to penetrate into a defense creates opportunities for open jumpers for others. Without him, they were an awful 7-of-27 from three-point range against the Blazers. And if you know anything about the Morey influence, you know that the Sixers are going to emphasize triples more and mid-range jumpers less.
Well, someday, anyway. This season they are 28th in the league in three-point attempts. But they have gotten to the free throw line more than any other team in the NBA. And they are third in the category of Defensive Rating, while stepping up the pace from last season. They are tied for second in the league in fastbreak points; last season they were middle of the road at best.
On the defensive end, there is a disparity between these squads. Some of the metrics we like to look at, aside from Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions), they are fourth in field goal percentage allowed (44.5%) and are one of only three teams in the NBA that has held its opponents to less than 50% inside the three-point arc. One of the more dynamic role players in the league is Matisse Thybulle, a defensive fiend. And don’t forget that Dwight Howard is in the City of Brotherly Love now, as is Danny Green.
On the other hand, Portland is dead last when it comes to defending against two-point shots. That will come in handy for the Sixers, who don’t take a lot of threes and have people like Embiid and Simmons, who attack the basket.
Yes, they have the components to get a little payback.
The Play: PHILADELPHIA -5.5
