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The Philadelphia 76ers enter Thursday’s contest with the Brooklyn Nets on a five-game winning streak. The Sixers held off the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night despite Bradley Beal dropping 60 points on them. The defense needs to tighten up against a Nets team that just demolished the Utah Jazz with Kevin Durant (quarantine) out of the lineup. This game is going to be tough to predict on the spread but we’re going to take a crack at it anyways.
Update: Kyrie Irving (personal) has been ruled out for tonight’s game. This is a bit of a surprise. I can’t recommend going with the Nets on the spread anymore. If you can get the Sixers at any number or even on the ML before the line moves, that would be favorable. The Nets will be down Irving, Kevin Durant and Spencer Dinwiddie. If you can get in on some Caris LeVert player props, now is the time. Target Pts + Rebs + Asts lines.
Update: Seth Curry is also out for the Sixers. So I hopped on some Danny Green props earlier in anticipation. I’d still lean Sixers on the spread for now. If you’re thinking it’s a trap, then wait or live lines and see how the Nets respond. Brooklyn is known to be feisty when guys are out.
Philadelphia 76ers vs. Brooklyn Nets, 7:30 p.m. ET TNT
Pick ATS: Nets +1.5
The Sixers just released their injury report and Seth Curry popped up as questionable. If he sits, that’s a lot of shooting to compensate for on the Sixers side. Curry has scored 20-plus points in three of his past four games. No KD would have normally gave us pause but we also saw what happened to the Jazz the other night.
I’m interested to see if the Sixers deploy Ben Simmons on Kyrie Irving. That may make things tough but I still think the Nets have enough depth to get past the Sixers and end their win streak. Irving and the Nets made a statement against Utah. Philly has mostly been beating up on weaker teams. Brooklyn will be a tougher test and I like the Nets getting points at home.
Player prop: Tobias Harris O19.5 points (-110)
Get in on this number while you still can. The line should start to shift with Seth Curry questionable. If Curry is out, this should be an easy cover for Harris, who has scored at least 20 points in four of the past five games. Tack on a few extra field goal attempts with Curry sidelined, so it’s not out of the question for Harris to take around 16-18 shots tonight. Even if Curry plays, Harris has been clearing this number pretty frequently. The Sixers and Nets are both top 6 in terms of pace of play. There should be plenty of possessions and Philly may even need to play catchup if there’s an early deficit given the B2B.
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