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Sixers vs. Wizards: Biggest Spread of the Season to Date
By Joe Tansey
Published:
If there ever was such a thing as a letdown game for a 3-16 NBA team, it’s Tuesday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The Sixers are a 12.5-point favorite at BetMGM for their clash with the Washington Wizards, who stunned the Milwaukee Bucks on the road on Monday night.
Struggling on the second leg of a back-to-back is a tale as old as time in the NBA, but I think this stands out more than usual. The Wizards caught the Bucks on a sluggish night, they had to travel overnight from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, and they are 0-2 on the second leg of back-to-backs.
I doubt we’ll see a second overtime game in the Wizards/Sixers regular-season series on Tuesday. Washington pushed the Sixers to OT on October 28th in the nation’s capital.
The spread for that game was only 4.5 points. So that’s an eight-point difference and it’s also the largest spread in favor of the Sixers all season.
Alex Sarr, Khris Middleton, and Corey Kispert aren’t playing for the Wizards. That takes away a threat in the paint, an all-around glue guy, and a sharpshooter from the Wizards lineup.
Even without Joel Embiid and a host of others, the Sixers are in position to run away with the win. Andre Drummond, Paul George and Quentin Grimes are all on the injury report, but are expected to play.
Washington’s been a double-digit dog a whopping 12 times already. The Wizards are 5-7 against the spread in those games. Four of the covers came as an underdog of 10.5 or 12.5 points. If the number goes up to 13.5, it favors the Sixers to cover even more.
If Drummond plays, he’s an obvious player prop target with Sarr out. Drummond had 10 rebounds in 12 minutes in October against the Wizards. He’ll easily clear his Over/Under 10.5 rebounds at bet365 if he’s in the starting lineup.
I think Jared McCain has the most upside of any Sixers player in this one, especially if it gets out of hand early. Nick Nurse should have no business playing Tyrese Maxey and Paul George a ton of minutes if the lead consistently stays over 20.
McCain had 15+ points in three of his last four games. He played over 25 minutes in each of those contests. That makes it easy to attack McCain’s Over 13.5 points at bet365. That might be the lowest we see that prop for a while until the Sixers are fully healthy.
Turning to PA sports betting apps and bet365’s Safety Net Bet, I’d go with McCain 10+ points, Drummond 10+ points and 10+ rebounds, and Cam Whitmore 10+ points to get you to +390. Somebody down the Wizards depth chart has to score on Monday and my pick is Whitmore, who’s had a double-digit point total five of the last six times he’s played 15 or more minutes.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.