8:00 PM ET | PHI -6.5 | O/U 216
After the rollercoaster that has been this series between Philadelphia and Atlanta, we deserve another action-packed game 7. Brooklyn and Milwaukee did not disappoint last night, and I hope that we get a nice follow up to that tonight after watching the Clippers and Suns start their Western Conference Finals at 3:30 PM ET.
If you haven't closely followed this series, it looks pretty even just looking at the scores of each game but that doesn't even begin to tell the story.
Atlanta stole Game 1 in Philly, but the 76ers bounced back with a 16-point victory in Game 2. They walloped the Hawks in Game 3 by 16-points again, this time on the road. It looked like they had figured out how to stop Trae Young and co. But Games 4 and 5 were different.
Up by 13 at halftime, the 76ers collapsed and were outscored by 16 in the second half of Game 4 and lost by 3. Joel Embiid shot 4/20 in that one, something 76ers fans could look at and say "Well if he shoots any better we win that game easily".
In what seemed like deja vu, the 76ers were up by 22 at halftime in Game 5 (largest lead was 26) and they had one of the biggest collapses in NBA postseason history. Atlanta outscored them 40-19 in the 4th quarter to win 109-106. This time Embiid had 37 points and they still found a way to lose.
Game 6 something changed for Philly. Doc Rivers gave rookie Tyrese Maxey some minutes and he showed an explosiveness and energy that none of the other 76ers have. Maxey, Embiid, Harris, and Curry should be the main offensive pieces going into Game 7. Anything extra from Simmons and Korkmaz is just a bonus.
Trae Young is going to get his. He is a master at drawing fouls, whether its coming off of a screen on the 3-point line or jumping backwards into the defender on a floater. He is averaging 30.3 ppg in this series, against 2 of the best perimeter defenders in Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle.
Game 7 should be exciting. The Philly crowd should be rocking. Joel Embiid is going to come out on a mission. He is going to need the others to step up. Look for Philly to try to control the pace of this game. Weirdly enough if they get another big lead I would be very worried about another collapse. For Atlanta, the focus should be on limiting Embiid on the defensive end, and taking good shots on the offensive end. Open 3's for the wings and dunks for the bigs. Trae should let the game come to him before chucking up deep 3's early. Once he gets it going in the paint, the jumpers will be more and more open for him.
ESPN's Kevin Arnovitz wrote a great article after Game 6 about what to expect here in Game 7.
GAMBLING PREVIEW
The winning team has covered the spread in each game so far this series. Although 6.5 is a big spread for a Game 7, 2/3 of the 76ers wins have been by 16 points in this series so it seems fair. You don't want to use recency bias but Brooklyn was favored against Milwaukee last night and came out on the losing end of that Game 7.
The total has gone under in Games 4,5, and 6. This is the lowest line given for the total so far this series at 216. It makes it seem like Vegas wants you to take the over. Again as we saw last night, the total went over after going under 5/6 games in the BKN/MIL series.
Let's hope for a great game like Brooklyn and Milwaukee played last night. To access FixdPicks playoff picks click here. Just $14.99 for Conference Finals and NBA Finals. To join the waitlist for our Bet Tracker App, click here!
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