76ers vs. Lakers Expert NBA Betting Analysis and Free Pick (Archive)
The Philadelphia 76ers (44-27) looks to keep rolling against the Los Angeles Lakers (31-41) on ESPN this Wednesday evening. The 76ers were able to beat Miami without Joel Embiid and James Harden on Monday.
The Lakers were able to win in Cleveland with LeBron James posting a 38-point triple-double against his original team. Let’s see what the NBA odds for this matchup tell us!
Philadelphia 76ers vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Wednesday, March 23, 2022 – 10:00 PM EDT at Crypto.com Arena
The 76ers (35-35-1 ATS) are a 7.5-point favorite over the Lakers (30-42 ATS) at BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks. It looks like the stars will be back in business for the 76ers, but James is playing well too, and he was inactive when these teams last met in January.
January 27 Recap: 76ers 105, Lakers 87
The 76ers can complete the season sweep of the Lakers after beating them at home by a 105-87 final in late January. The Lakers were missing LeBron James that day and only shot 40.9% from the field despite the best efforts of Anthony Davis (31 points) and Russell Westbrook (9-for-15 from the field). Davis of course continues to be out with an injury.
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Philadelphia shot 50% and was led by Embiid’s 26 points and nine rebounds. Tyrese Maxey had a season-high 10 assists, but he obviously does not have to dish like that with the Harden trade. Maxey just scored 28 points to help the shorthanded 76ers win in Miami, and he is a plus-18 on the court in the last three games.
Both teams should look quite different from the matchup two months ago, but the 76ers still come in as a worthy favorite with a better roster.
Recent Play: 76ers Inconsistent, Lakers Reminiscent
After winning their first four games out of the All-Star break with James Harden, the 76ers are only 5-4 in their last nine games. Harden has gone from shooting 59.2% in those four games to 35% ever since.
Embiid has also battled a back injury and shot just 6-for-20 from the field in a loss to Toronto. Embiid and Harden sat out the Miami game on Monday, but the 76ers surprised everyone by overcoming a bad first quarter to win the last three quarters and the game against the top seed in the conference.
The bench provided a strong spark with 38 points from the duo of Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz. Miami had its studs available, but the 76ers made five more threes, won the rebound battle without Embiid, and kept turnovers down. Now if this team can get Embiid and
Harden is back to playing at high levels, then you can see how much damage it can do in the playoffs. As for the Lakers, it’s getting to the point where it looks like LeBron will put up a 35-point triple-double in the play-in tournament game, but the Lakers will lose after Westbrook shoots 13% from the field.
In fairness to Westbrook, he actually is shooting 53.2% from the field and 50% from three in the last three games. That improved play has helped the Lakers win two games in Toronto and Cleveland and they blew a 16-point lead to the Wizards on Saturday.
But the story remains James, who is now the second all-time leading scorer in NBA history with only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ahead of him. In the month of March, the 37-year-old James is averaging 33.9 points per game, including three straight road games with at least 36 points, nine rebounds, and six assists.
The only player in NBA history with a longer streak of such games on the road is Westbrook (four). The Lakers return home for this one where they are 4-5 ATS as an underdog this season, but the Lakers have the NBA’s worst spread record (12-26) when playing on equal rest to their opponent.
Philadelphia has played eight of its 11 games in March at home. This game begins a nine-game stretch where the 76ers will be on the road seven times. Philadelphia (20-13-1 ATS) is one of six teams to cover over 60% of the time on the road.
Prediction
The Lakers are 8-22 ATS after a win this season, the worst record in the NBA. While the Lakers have pulled off a few wins behind James’ heroics in recent games, this team has also lost four of its last six games by more than seven points. I am going to trust the 76ers’ deeper roster to get the job done in this one and cover for your NBA picks.
NBA Pick: 76ers -7.5 (-110) with Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
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