Miami Heat at Philadelphia 76ers Betting Preview
Two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference will square off Monday in what could be a playoff preview as the Miami Heat (47-24, 1st in East) take on the Philadelphia 76ers (43-27, 3rd in East). The 76ers will host this one at the Wells Fargo Center, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 pm ET.
This will be the fourth time that these two teams have played with the Heat taking two of the three matchups. The last time these two played, on March 5, Miami won 99-82.
For the Heat, they come into this one on a two-game winning streak, including a victory over the Thunder on Friday. In the 120-108 win, Tyler Herro tied for a game-high with 26 points while Duncan Robinson and Bam Adebayo added 19 apiece.
This will be the second game of a back-to-back for the 76ers. They lost the first leg on Sunday to the Toronto Raptors 93-88. In the loss, Joel Embiid had a team-high 21 points to go along with 13 rebounds.
Philadelphia is the slight favorite in this one. They are -116 to win while the Heat’s moneyline sits at -102. The spread features Miami +1 (-110).
More Odds
Despite being behind them in the rankings, Philadelphia has the better odds of winning the East at +350. Miami is +480 to win the conference.
In terms of the NBA Finals, the 76ers are +850 to win. Miami is +1000 to win it all.
By The Numbers
Miami has the slightly better offense of the two. They rank 17th in the league in scoring averaging 109.5 points per game. Philadelphia ranks 20th, averaging 108.7 points.
Defensively, it is again the Heat with the edge. They rank fourth in the NBA in scoring defense as they are allowing opponents just 104.8 points per game. Philadelphia also ranks in the top-10 at seventh allowing 106.7 points.
Heat Trying To Maintain Conference Lead
At 47-24, Miami currently has a comfortable three-game lead in the Eastern Conference over the Milwaukee Bucks. With 11 games left in the regular season, they would like to maintain, or extend, that lead with a win Monday over the 76ers, who sit just 3.5 games back.
Leading Miami’s offense is small forward Jimmy Butler. In 48 games, he is averaging 21.1 points, six rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.8 steals.
Unfortunately, Butler is questionable for this one as he has been dealing with an ankle injury.
Tyler Herro has also turned it on this season for Miami. Like Butler, he is also averaging 21.1 points to go along with 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
Other significant contributors for the Heat include Bam Adebayo (19 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists), Kyle Lowry (12.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 7.7 assists), and Duncan Robinson (11.4 points, 2.7 rebounds).
Philadelphia Trying To Salvage Back End Of Back-To-Back
After losing the first game of a back-to-back to Toronto on Sunday, the 76ers will look to salvage the second game as they host the Heat. With only a half-game separating the Bucks, 76ers, and Celtics, every win is crucial heading down the stretch for Philadelphia.
Playing at an MVP level, Joel Embiid leads the 76ers’ offense. In fact, he leads the team in points (30), rebounds (11.3), assists (4.4), and blocks per game (1.4).
Since being acquired at the deadline, James Harden has also played well for Philadelphia. In 10 games, he is averaging 22.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 10.7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.
The 76ers have two others averaging double digits in Tobias Harris (17.8 points, seven rebounds, 3.4 assists) and Tyrese Maxey (17.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists).
Take Miami And The Points
As two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, this one should be a fun matchup. Still, there are a few factors that give Miami a little more value in this one.
First, Philadelphia has been just average at home. In fact, they have a better record on the road (23-11) than at home (20-16) this season.
Both have played well as of late (Miami is 7-3 in their last ten while Philadelphia is 6-4 in that span), but Miami will come in better rested as they had the day of Sunday.
Truly, this has the potential to go either way and for that reason, the smartest play is to take the points. In this case, that means taking Miami +1.
