NBA: OKC Thunder vs. Philadelphia 76ers Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Philadelphia 76ers host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night, fired up following the execution of James Harden’s trade. Right now, the Sixers are one of the main contenders for the NBA title, and the fans can’t wait to see the new acquisition on the floor. The Beard probably won’t play this event, but nevertheless, we expect to see madness at Wells Fargo Center. The Thunder doesn’t have any pressure and will try to avoid the fourth consecutive loss. This is a wasted year for them, spent on a rebuild that didn’t bring anything special, to be honest.

Preview

OKC Thunder (17-37, +575) lost three in a row, with the note that the last two were at home. This negative slide started in Sacramento and continued against the Warriors, 110-98 and in the most recent event, vs. superb Raptors, 117-98.

The team from Canada imposed its own rhythm early on, winning the opening period 34-22, and setting the tone. Toronto had a big advantage inside the paint, scoring 58 points, which is 20 more than the Thunder. That’s why they had better shooting percentages, 51.1% compared to 41.4% of the Raptors.

Aleksej Pokusevski was good off the bench with 18 points, hitting four threes, and Theo Maledon added the same number of buckets, also as a non-starter. Meanwhile, Lugentz Dort was the only notable contributor in the starting lineup with 15 buckets. Josh Giddey had 14 with nine boards and six assists.

Philadelphia 76ers (32-22, -800) lost three in the previous four events, which is something unexpected. Though, we need to say that the schedule has been pretty rough on the Sixers, who lost to Wizards, Mavs, and the Suns, beating the Bulls in the meantime.

Embiid and the company hosted Phoenix in the latest contest, losing that battle, 114-109. The 76ers had a 14-point lead throughout that event and have also limited the guests to six threes in 26 attempts but weren’t able to end up on the winning side.

Embiid had 34 points and 12 boards, with three assists in 33 minutes of play, keeping his MVP pace. Tobias Harris was next to him with 30 points and seven boards, shooting 13-for-18 from the field, while Tyrese Maxey scored 14 with six rebounds and four assists.

Head to Head Games

The season’s first meeting took place in OKC, and the 76ers won that one, 115-103. It was their fourth overall triumph over the Thunder. Seth Curry was the top scorer for the guests with 29 points, while Embiid had 22. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 29 for the hosts with eight dimes, while Giddey scored 19 and added with boards plus seven assists.

Prediction

The 76ers will win here, there’s no doubt about that, but the value of this pick is very low, with the odds on it -800. When looking at how to increase that, the first thing that crosses our mind is to bet on the hosts to cover a 12-point spread, as OKC comes to town without SGA. Therefore our suggestion would be to take that bet, with the odds on it -110.

Pick: 76ers -110

Here is the preview for Spurs vs. Hawks game.