DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>. The Heat hold +110 odds of winning outright, with the game total set at O\/U 244.5 points.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s dive into my preview and prediction for this Monday night matchup.<\/p>\n
76ers vs. Heat preview, prediction<\/p>\n
It has been an uneasy season for the Philadelphia 76ers, but they look to be getting healthy at the right time. They have climbed to seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a 41-33 overall record. Philadelphia is a half-game behind the Hawks for the sixth seed and one game back of the Raptors for the fifth seed, looking to stack wins to climb into a full playoff seed. The 76ers enter this game coming off back-to-back wins and have won four of their last five. On the season, the Sixers have gone 40-34 against the spread, and the game total is 38-36 to the over\/under.<\/p>\n
After battling injury issues all season, the Sixers enter tonight\u2019s matchup with a clean bill of health, with the exception of second-round pick Johni Broome being sidelined due to a meniscus tear. Joel Embiid made his return from an oblique issue and is averaging 26.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists across his 35 games played this year. Tyrese Maxey returned from a three-week absence due to a ligament issue in his finger and will look to build on his season averages of 28.9 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.2 rebounds across his league-leading 38.3 minutes per game. Paul George was sidelined due to a 25-game suspension, and is adding 16.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists while setting the tone for this Sixers\u2019 defense. Third-overall pick VJ Edgecombe has been as NBA-ready as a rookie could be, while Kelly Oubre Jr., Quentin Grimes, Dominick Barlow, and Justin Edwards each play key roles in the rotation.<\/p>\n
Nick Nurse\u2019s squad is averaging 116.2 points per game, which ranks 13th in the NBA. The Sixers also rank 16th in offensive rating, 23rd in team field goal percentage, and 21st in three-point percentage. Defensively, opponents are scoring 116.5 points per game against the Sixers, which ranks 19th in the NBA. They also rank 17th in defensive rating, 12th in opponent field goal percentage, and 14th in opponent three-point percentage.<\/p>\n
The Heat sit in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 39-36 record. They remain a half-game behind the Orlando Magic for the eighth seed, but have failed to take advantage of the opportunity to make up ground. Miami enters this game having gone 1-7 across its last eight games and is playing on the second half of a back-to-back after losing outright to the Pacers last night. On the season, the Heat have gone 43-32 against the spread, and the game total has gone over in 41 of their 75 games played.<\/p>\n
Norman Powell has been ruled out for tonight\u2019s game with an upper respiratory illness, leaving the Heat to make up for his 22.1 points per game. Tyler Herro will take on the bulk of these responsibilities and look to add to his 21.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. Bam Adebayo is posting averages of 20.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 3.0 assists, while Kel\u2019el Ware, Davion Mitchell, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Andrew Wiggins each play key roles in the rotation.<\/p>\n
The Heat lead the NBA in pace and rank second in scoring with 120.3 points per game. They rank 13th in offensive rating, 19th in field-goal percentage, and 17th in three-point percentage. Defensively, Miami ranks 22nd in points allowed by conceding 117.9 points per game. Miami also ranks ninth in defensive rating, eighth in opponent field goal percentage, and ninth in opponent three-point percentage.<\/p>\n
76ers vs. Heat prediction, best bet<\/p>\n
These are two teams trending in opposite directions, so expect this to be put on full display tonight. There is a pathway to the Heat taking advantage of the Sixers\u2019 weaknesses by pushing the pace at a high level and attacking the offensive glass. But it has been several weeks since the Heat have played consistent high-level basketball, and they have wilted against far inferior competition than what the Sixers will offer.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia made an all-in push to bring in Paul George as the missing piece to their max contract duo of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Now nearly two full seasons in, it is still impossible to declare if it could work. Embiid\u2019s injuries took a turn last season, with him playing a career-low 19 games. George did not hold up his end of the bargain from an availability standpoint either, playing 41 games last year, and he has only been available for 29 games this season. But Tyrese Maxey has grown into the face of the franchise and provided stability in their absence. All three of Embiid, George, and Maxey have been available for the past two games, which marked the first time they have shared the floor since January 29th.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia blew out the Bulls on Wednesday and then defeated a red-hot Hornets team 118-114 on Saturday to put itself in a strong spot to finish the season on a high note and paint a more promising playoff path than seemed possible for most of the year. On paper, this trio still makes basketball sense, and they are beginning to work through the growing pains together on the court. Embiid missed the loss to the Heat earlier this year, and George missed the Sixers\u2019 victory over Miami.<\/p>\n
Momentum is on the Sixers\u2019 side, and they have more top-end talent that will show face in this matchup. Along with the impact that each of the stars makes, it allows each of the Sixers\u2019 other members, such as Quentin Grimes, Kelly Oubre Jr., and VJ Edgecombe, to slip back into roles more fitting for their skillsets. Philadelphia showed an impressive toughness to outscore the Hornets 26-17 in the fourth quarter in the previous game to scrap to a win, complete with Embiid blocking a potential game-tying three-point attempt from Brandon Miller with 7.4 seconds to go. Expect this same effort and hunger to carry over as the Sixers have a chance to show what this team is designed to look like for the first time in two seasons. Facing a Heat team on a rest disadvantage that has dropped seven of their last eight, count on the Sixers to win and cover the narrow spread tonight.<\/p>\n
Best Bet: 76ers -2.5 (-102)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sean Barnard details his preview and prediction for Monday\u2019s game between the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers. Kicking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,144,295,189,3881,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-688809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-heat","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-heat","12":"tag-miamiheat","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116320410375804405","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}