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Unbeaten Sixers are -105 on the Money Line for NBA Cup Opener vs. Boston
By Joe Tansey
Published:
Cancel your Halloween plans, the prestigious NBA Cup begins on Friday night!
Okay, okay, the NBA Cup hasn’t exactly caught on, but what it does do is make the games meaningful from start to finish, which in turn, helps sports bettors. Point differential is the first tiebreaker across the three groups and to determine the best second-place team in each conference. The Sixers are in East Group B with Boston, Detroit, Brooklyn, and Orlando.
The Sixers have fluctuated between a short favorite and a small underdog for most of Friday morning. Whether the spread ends up at -1.5 or +1.5, I’d just look into a money line bet. As of publication, the Sixers are -105 atBetMGM. For PA and NJ sportsbook promos, you can use BetMGM’s Odds Boost Token to get that number into plus-money:
The betting approach for the Sixers shouldn’t change from the first four games. Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe are the volume scorers, Joel Embiid is still on a restriction between 20-25 minutes and then one or two of the depth pieces need to step up in the scoring department.
Maxey’s points prop sits at Over/Under 29.5, a line he cleared three times this season. He scored 28 points in the other game. Maxey put up 40 points in 41 minutes in the season opener against the Celtics. He’s going to have to score a similar amount on Friday in a game against a Celtics team that loves to shoot three pointers.
I’d easily hit the over on Maxey’s points and I’d look into the Over 3.5 threes prop as well. Maxey attempted at least nine threes in every game. He’s made four threes in three of four games.
bet365 allows you to bet on three-pointers attempted by player. Maxey’s attempted threes O/U is 8.5. That’s a great spot to hit the over given the matchup and his shooting record so far this season.
As for Embiid, that’s a bigger question mark. He scored 20 points in 20 minutes against the Hornets and 25 points in 23 minutes versus the Wizards, but that’s the Hornets and the Wizards. He only had five points in the season opener versus Boston.
Embiid’s points prop is O/U 17.5. It’s tempting to go after the over because of the last two games. I would actually attack Embiid’s rebounds prop of O/U 6.5. He had six against the Celtics and seven versus Washington. Boston doesn’t have an indomitable paint presence, and with the amount of threes the Celtics take, there should plenty of rebounding opportunities for the big man.
I’d pair Maxey 30+ points and Embiid 7+ rebounds in a Same Game Parlay at bet365. I’d add two components from the Celtics as well to fulfill the requirements for bet365’s 50 percent SGP boost. Josh Minott 7+ rebounds and Sam Hauser 2+ threes gets you to +725 before the boost is applied.
Minott has 24 rebounds in the last two games. He got moved into the starting lineup in favor of Hauser. Hauser still carries value with shooting. He’s hit at least two threes in each of Boston’s five games.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.