“I should play like that every night.”
After a demoralizing loss north of the border, The Sixers flew home with some bad memories of Toronto. No player had a worse time than Joel Embiid, who experienced his first scoreless game as a 76er. But that embarrassment lit a fire. Because Embiid and company flipped the script on Wednesday night. Led by Embiid’s 33 points and 16 rebounds, the Sixers beat the Sacramento Kings, 97-91. Interviewed after the game, Big Joel said his big numbers should be a nightly occurrence.
Philly’s improvement over their Canadian showing was evident in the visiting team’s lack of points. Sacramento’s sub-100 point total reflected the home team’s commanding interior presence. The Sixers out-rebounded the Kings 50-40, and out-blocked them 10-3.
Despite that, turnovers were a problem. Ben Simmons led the way with five (along with 10 points and 14 rebounds), and Philly compiled 17 overall. That kept the Kings in a game they should have shot their way out of. The worst offender was Buddy Hield, who was 9-24 from the field, and 3-12 on three-pointers. Bedeviling the Kings perimeter players was Sixers rookie Matisse Thybulle. The defensive-minded reserve had four steals, two blocks, and three rebounds, while contributing a career-high 15 points.
NBA Betting Preview – Knicks @ 76ers
Fri. 11/29 at 7:00 PM
Philly has exploited the friendly confines of the Wells Fargo Center to build an 8-0 home record. Tonight, they visit Madison Square Garden, looking to improve on their unimpressive 4-6 road mark. Working in their favor is a mediocre opponent holding down last place in the Eastern Conference. The 4-14 Knicks have lost four straight, and are coming off an embarrassing 28-point loss in Toronto. So, at least these two teams have that in common.
Despite their record, New York has enough talent to pose a threat when their shots are falling. Last week, the Sixers had to overcome a 17-point deficit to beat the Knicks in Philadelphia, 109-104. Marcus Morris is averaging 18.6 points, and hitting 51.5% of his three-pointers. Fellow starter, Julius Randle is averaging 16.4 points, and leads the team in rebounding with nine per game. Despite those numbers, New York is averaging a league-worst 101.8 points per game.
The Pick:
The Sixers will be without Josh Richardson, who strained his right hamstring against the Kings. Furkan Korkmaz will likely start in his place, and Thybulle will get increased minutes. Philly has won five of six, and the Toronto loss feels like an anomaly. Their four healthy regular starters recovered against Sacramento by playing up to their talent. I think the talent gap with the Knicks will be evident in NYC. So, I’m taking the 76ers to win as 7.5-point favorites tonight.
Where to bet this:
PointsBet is offering -105 odds on most NBA games this season. So for the Sixers at -7.5 points, that’s $105 to win $100. Elsewhere, Unibet, Sugarhouse, Caesars, and DraftKings all have the same odds with the payout at -110. Get the guaranteed best offers from all the top US Online Sportsbooks by clicking this link.
Top Player Prop:
The last time Ben Simmons faced the Knicks, he had 18 points on 7-9 shooting. Oh, and he was also 1-1 from three-point range. Pretty big shot. Maybe you heard about it. Tonight, I’m headed to PointsBet Player Points Markets with Simmons in mind. I’m taking the OVER on Ben Simmons scoring 13.5 points, with a payout of -120.
NBA Betting Bonus Alert:
Simmons 3-Pt Mania — In his first matchup with New York, Ben Simmons hit his first career three-pointer. PointsBet is offering a +100 payout on Simmons hitting over 10.5 threes this season.
$20 For Free – Unibet is still offering a great promo that gives you free money. You read that right – they want to give you $20 to bet with. Simply register for an account, and you get two free $10 bets.
Parlay Boosts – Unibet is also featuring boosted payouts on NFL and NBA betting parlays, in the form of 10, 20 and 30 percent virtual coupons that players can use each week. The boosts are automatically applied to 3, 4 and 5-leg parlays respectively, and players can claim one of each boost every week. Just select 3, 4 or 5 bets for a parlay, all with odds greater than -500. Then click “bonus offers” in the drop down menu to choose the 10%, 20% or 30% boost.
Make it Rain: The Sixers were 5-26 on three-pointers against Sacramento. Not a huge result, but nice to see them attempting a high volume of long shots. Even Philly’s small bucket total could of won you $15 via PointsBet’s ‘Make it Rain’ booster on all Sixers games. If you bet $100 on the pregame spread for the Sixers, Knicks, or Nets, PB will automatically apply the ‘Make it Rain’ promo. Then, you get rewarded with $3 on every made three-pointer.
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