NBA Parlay Picks – Winless Nets Looking For Revenge, Against Sixers
76ers (-6½) at New Jersey (-6½)(O/U) 190½
Tonight at 7:30 PM ET
The Philadelphia 76ers (3-4 SU, 2-5 ATS, 3-4 O/U) have a new head coach this season in veteran leader Eddie Jordan and have clearly changed their style of play by going to a more up-tempo brand of basketball.
Unfortunately, the Sixers haven’t gotten the results they’ve hoped for through seven games and have lost two straight and three of their last four overall.
However, Philadelphia’s struggles pale in comparison to the New Jersey Nets’ (0-7 SU, 2-5 ATS, 2-5 O/U) season-long woes as they enter tonight’s matchup against their Atlantic Division rivals as the only winless team in the league.
Ironically, both teams share identical 2-5 ATS wagering records and I think the Nets have actually have foundation for plenty of future success with one of the best young rosters in the league despite their current struggles.
Sixers Trends
76ers are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 vs. NBA Atlantic.76ers are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games overall.
Nets Trends
Nets are 9-1-1 ATS in their last 11 vs. NBA Atlantic.Nets are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 home games.
Keys to Victory
Philadelphia
The Sixers share many of the same problems that Jordan’s former team, the Washington Wizards, displayed on an almost nightly basis – the inability to stop their opponents from scoring.
Sure Philadelphia is averaging a respectable 101.9 points per game this season, but the Sixers are also ranked 23rd in defense, allowing their opponents to put up a whopping 105.6 points per contest so far and that’s going to get them a loss more often than not no matter who the opponent is.
Even against a banged-up Nets team tonight, Philadelphia has to get some stops and end their penchant for giving up easy baskets.
New Jersey
New Jersey is in the same boat as Philadelphia in regards to their poor defense, but also has the added problem of not being very good at putting the ball in the hole this season. The Nets are averaging a pitiful 87.7 points per game this season (29th) and have got to find a way to get easier baskets.
New Jersey has a blossoming all-star center in second-year big man Brook Lopez (18.0 ppg) and I think they need to give him the ball a whole lot more and play from the inside out with Devin Harris, Courtney Lee and rookie Terrence Williams all shooting under 40 percent from the field and Rafer Alston and Yi Jianlian shooting exactly 40 percent from the floor.
Basically, the Nets need to stop shooting so many jumpers and need to take the ball to the rack or give it to Lopez and get the hell out of the way.
Analysis: While the Sixers barely managed to beat the Nets 97-94 at home on Friday, I think they’re going to hand the undermanned Nets an even bigger loss tonight despite playing on the road this time.
Philadelphia took a tough loss on the chin in their 119-115 home loss to Phoenix on Monday and I think they’re going to win this game by double digits. While the Nets looked fairly respectable in their 86-76 home loss to Boston on Monday, Philadelphia plays at a much faster pace than Boston and will likely use their up-tempo offense to win this contest by somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 points.
With both teams playing Under their set O/U totals in three of their last four games and the Under also going 4-1 in the last five meetings between these longtime rivals, I say play the Under in this contest as well.
