NBA Betting Picks: Washington Wizards at Philadelphia 76ers

Added on Feb 23, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

Sportsbooks will be serving up a whole heapin’ helpin’ of NBA betting hospital-i-tee on Wednesday, and in this preview we’ll take a look at an Eastern Conference matchup between the Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers are playing solid basketball and are flirting with the .500 mark for the first time in ages. The Wizards are in the mix for the worst record in the NBA.

Washington Wizards at Philadelphia 76ers
February 23, 2011 4:095 PM Pacific

Classic case of a ‘play on’ team facing a ‘play against’ opponent–we’ll start with the ‘play against’: the Wizards are a mess and come into this game off a non-competitive loss to Indiana at home last night. As bad as they are at home they’re even worse on the road–in fact, they’re the worst road team in the NBA with a paltry 1-26 SU record. And lest you think they’ve been ‘playing tough’ on the road they’re also 8-19 against the spread. The Wizards are 16-29 ATS as a dog and 3-10 ATS against Atlantic Division opponents. They enter this game with only 3 SU wins in their last 16 games and a pointspread record of 5-11 in that stretch.

And in the other corner, the Philadelphia 76ers who have very quietly become a solid team under coach Doug Collins–and particularly at home. Philly has a 17-9 SU record at the Wachovia Center and 16-10 ATS. They’re 12-7 ATS as a favorite and 11-3 ATS against the Southeastern Division. They’re 10-4 SU in their last 14 games going 9-5 ATS. They’ve also dominated head to head play against the spread–the SU series is an even 5-5 split since 2008 but the Sixers are 7-3 ATS. That includes a 3-1 SU/2-1-1 ATS record at home. Sixers have covered all three meetings with Washington this year and its a case where Philadelphia has improved as the season has progressed while the Wizards have regressed. John Wall is a great talent but he’s starting to wear down under the grueling NBA regular season schedule–don’t forget that he only played one season at Kentucky so he’s not even really had the preparation of a high level NCAA schedule to ease him in to the 82 game pro basketball slate. Wizards will likely be without Kirk Hinrich here as well. Sixers fighting hard to hang on to a playoff spot and they should get an easy win here.

Bet Philadelphia 76ers -9′ over Washington Wizards