Lakers vs. 76'ers NBA Pick

The Sixers are favored by -4 with the total at 177. While early sports betting action has lifted the total by half of a point at some sportsbooks, the NBA odds appear to be holding steady at the moment. 

Lets breakdown this matchup and determine where we should place our NBA picks in this game.

The Lakers (14-10 SU, 11-13 ATS) dropped to 1-1 on their six-game road trip after dropping a 96-87 decision in Utah on Saturday night. Kobe Bryant had 26 points while Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum each had double-doubles. LA coach Mike Brown was ejected after drawing two technical fouls in the fourth quarter and is likely looking at a suspension after making contact with referee Zach Zarba. The Lakers 27.8 percent shooting in the second-half might have been a ‘contributing factor’ to Browns short fuse.

Philadelphia (17-7, 16-7-1 ATS) is off to its best start in 11 years and is coming off a 98-87 victory over Atlanta on Saturday. The 76ers had six players score in double figures, led by USC rookie Nikola Vucevic who tallied 15.

Spencer Hawes, Thaddeus Young and Louis Williams each added 14 for Philly which shot 50 percent for the game and committed just seven turnovers. It was the fifth win in six games for Philly which beat Chicago and Orlando last week and will face the Lakers, Spurs and Clippers this week. 

Philadelphia Story

As indicated by Saturday night’s stat sheet, the Sixers are arguably the most balanced team in the NBA. They don’t have one great scorer like Kobe or LeBron James, but they’re deep and talented. Williams leads in scoring (15.1 ppg) followed by Jrue Holliday (13.9 ppg), Andre Iguodala (12.8 ppg) and Young (12.5 ppg). The combination of Spencer Hawes and Vucevic will be called upon to help fill the big sneakers of Elton Brand, who suffered a sprained thumb in Saturday’s win over the Hawks.

The Sixers turnaround can be credited primarily to a stifling defense that is holding opponents to a league low 86.1 points per game. Philadelphia has been even tougher at home (81.2 ppg) and has held opponents to 87 points or less in their last five wins. If you dig even deeper into the numbers, you’ll see that on three occasions in the past week they’ve limited three teams—Orlando, Detroit and Charlotte—to 74 points or less.

The Lakers defense has more than held its own. LA is fifth in scoring (90.8 ppg) and first in field goal percentage (41.6).

More than just Kobe

Besides Kobe, the Lakers other two primary scoring options have being playing lights out recently. Pau Gasol is coming off a 24-point, 16-rebound effort against Utah and is now averaging 16.5 points and 10 rebounds per game. Andrew Bynum had 21 and 12 against Utah and is now at 21 points and 11 boards per game this season.

The Lakers start the night in second-place in the Pacific Division, 1.5 games back of the Clippers. Meanwhile the Sixers lead the Atlantic Division by 3.5 games over Boston.

Trends

After ending a six-game losing streak in Philadelphia, the Lakers have won (and covered) in their past four trips to the home of the Liberty Bell. However LA is 3-8 SU and ATS on the road this year.

NBA betting history shows that the favorite is 11-5 ATS in the last 16 meetings while the road team is 6-0 ATS in the last six meetings.

Philadelphia has been an excellent home team at 12-3 SU and have been a goldmine on the ‘under’ going 12-3 to the low side. It’s helped having an easy home schedule with just four of their opponents playing break even or better.

Harvey’s Take: What the Lakers really need instead of Dwight Howard or Deron Williams is a bench. World Metta Peace, Troy Murphy, Jason Kapono, Luke Walton and Steve Blake—are you kidding me? The reserves are last in the league in scoring and after you get past Bryant, Gasol and Bynum there’s not much else. Tonight my Super Bowl earnings will be on the Sixers who should cover easily.

Good luck!