The Philadelphia 76ers are on fire right now, winning eight straight games heading into Tuesday’s matchup with the Washington Wizards.
Washington has struggled as of late, losing eight of its last 10 games to slip into the No. 12 spot in the Eastern Conference.
Philly fans had to love the resilience the team showed on Christmas Day, coming back from as many as 14 down to dominate the fourth quarter and beat the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
The Sixers are 8-1 since James Harden returned to the lineup, winning seven of those eight games by five or more points. With a short spread in their game against the Wizards, Philly has a chance to win and cover again on Tuesday.
Here are the latest odds, as well as my best bet for this matchup:
Sixers vs. Wizards Odds, Spread and Total
Sixers vs. Wizards Prediction and Pick
Since Harden returned to the lineup, the Sixers are fourth in the NBA in net rating, and I think that success continues in this matchup.
Harden gives Philly another scorer to rely on, but he’s really made his impact as a passer, getting Joel Embiid and others good looks night in and night out. Harden is averaging 12.1 assists per game since returning from his foot injury.
Washington can’t be trusted with its recent struggles, even though it upset Phoenix (without Devin Booker) and Sacramento on its road trip.
The Wizards are just 2-3 against the spread as home dogs, and they’ve fallen to 25th in the league in net rating this season. They don’t have anyone who can handle Embiid’s strength down low, which should make things easy on Philly on offense.
The Sixers are solid as road favorites this season, going 4-2 against the spread and winning those games by an average margin of 5.0 points.
Since the team has had a ton of success with Harden back, I’ll lay the points with the Sixers on Tuesday.
Find Peter Dewey’s full betting record here.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.