The Philadelphia 76ers have a one-game lead on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference for the No. 3 seed heading into their matchup on Wednesday night.
Cleveland has been red hot ahead of the All-Star break, winning seven straight games and eight of its last 10. The Sixers are playing well themselves, winning seven of their last 10 games.
Joel Embiid (foot) is once again listed as questionable for this game, but the injury hasn’t held him out as of late. With such a crucial game in the standings ahead, I’d expect Embiid to suit up against the Cavs tonight.
Philly is set as a small favorite at home, where it is 22-8 on the season. Both of these teams have been much better at home (Cleveland is 25-6 at home) than on the road in the 2022-23 campaign.
Does that give the Sixers an advantage against the surging Cavs?
Here are the odds and best bet for this game:
Cavaliers vs. Sixers odds, spread and total
Cavaliers vs. Sixers prediction and pick
I’m going to forget the points and simply take the Sixers to win this game outright on Wednesday night.
The Cavs have a terrific profile this season, ranking No. 2 in the NBA in net rating and No. 1 in defensive rating, but they have struggled on the road, especially as road underdogs.
Cleveland is just 3-7 against the spread as a road dog this season, going 2-8 straight up in those games.
The Sixers have not only won straight up at home all season long, but they are solid as home favorites, going 15-10-1 ATS and winning those games by an average margin of 5.9 points per game.
Embiid is one of the few bigs in the NBA that can give Cleveland’s duo of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley problems down low, and the Sixers have offense (eighth in offensive rating) to compete with this Cavs defense.
As good as Cleveland has been all season, Philly is still fourth in the NBA in net rating. The Sixers are going to take this at home.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.