Brooklyn Nets (25-28) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (34-21)
Date/Time: Thursday, February 20, 2020 8:00 PM TNT
In the first game after the All-Star break for both teams, the Brooklyn Nets head to the City of Brotherly Love to face the Philadelphia 76ers, who have been dominant on the season at home.
On the season Brooklyn is 26-27 ATS with an O/U record of 25-27 and Philly is 22-29-4 ATS with an O/U record of 26-28.
The Nets were playing well before the break winning two in a row and four of five games. While under .500 on the season they are in the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference but have some work to do to move up being six games back of the sixth-place Indiana Pacers.
The 76ers won three in a row before the All-Star break while they lost four straight before that. There has been reported tension in the locker room and while they have two All-Stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons they are still only in fifth place in the East.
The 76ers have been two different teams this season the one at home and the one on the road. They have the best home record in the league at 25-2 but are 10 games under .500 on the road. On the other side of the coin, the Nets have not been a great team away from Brooklyn with a road record of 9-16.
The Nets are 1-2 against the 76ers with the lone win coming at home.
The 76ers have covered the spread in four of their last five home games facing the Nets.
Can Nets Make it Three in a Row?
The Nets have won their last two games facing teams from the Eastern Conference that are above them in the standings and look to make it three straight with a win in this game.
Kyrie Irving (27.4 ppg) has been out for a while with a knee injury and is expected to come back late this month so he will miss this game.
In the Nets’ last game, they were at home and played solid defense in their 101-91 win over the Toronto Raptors. They did not have a good shooting game with an FG% of 40.9% but they held Toronto to 37.8% shooting.
Brooklyn is a balanced team, but not the best balance, that ranks 18th in the league in both ppg and opponents’ ppg.
Spencer Dinwiddie (21 ppg) is the leading scorer with Irving out and after going for 21 points in two straight games he had 17 on 38.5% shooting in the win over the Raptors. Caris Levert (15.3 ppg) went for 20 points in the win over Toronto and while only having 11 in his previous game blew up for 37 points in the game before.
Defense is Legit
For all the issues the 76ers have had this season they still have one of the best defenses in the league ranking second only giving up an average of 106.2 ppg. Their D is key since they only rank 22nd in the league in ppg.
They had a solid home win in their last game before the break beating the L.A. Clippers 110-103. They did not shoot the three well but shot 46.3% from the floor, allowed the Clippers to shoot 44.4%, and they outscored L.A. 58-38 in the paint.
Embiid (22.9 ppg 11.9 rpg) leads the team in scoring and rebounding and after only totaling 29 points in two games he totaled 54 points in his last two games. Simmons (16.9 ppg 7.9 rpg 8.3 assists per game) had two straight triple-doubles in the last two games before the All-Star break.
Our Prediction
The Nets are 5-0 ATS in their last five games but have failed to cover in six of their last seven games against the 76ers.
The 76ers have had an up-and-down first half but their main problem has been the play on the road. However, they are at home in this game and rested after the All-Star break.
They have won their last two games this season against the Nets and they will win their third in a row in this game where they will also cover the spread.