NBA / betting pick

Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets are getting ready to face off against each other in the first round of Playoffs in what promises to be a great fixture. The match will take place at Wells Fargo Center on April 13th. For anyone that was watching the regular season, it should not come off as a surprise when I say, the difference between the two teams is huge. On one side we have got Philadelphia 76ers who are arguably one of the best teams in the East and on the other we have Brooklyn Nets, who just barely climbed their way to the top 8 with 3 consecutive wins to end their regular season. Philadelphia 76ers have got one of the best starting 5, which excels in the offensive end and should and could carry them far in the playoffs. While there are some question marks above the team that has traded most of their roster, they have proven to us they are still a top 3 team in the East. On the other side, we have Brooklyn Nets, who just barely got themselves into the playoffs. The injury of LeVert acted like a brick wall on the road to the playoffs, however, the team jumped on the back of D'Angelo Russell, who carried them to the playoffs. But can D'Angelo Russell keep on the load and carry the team further into the playoffs? That is a million dollar question. Of course, saying the team is only counting on D'Angelo would not do justice to other players and would be false. Brooklyn Nets despite what some might think have got a lot of depth in the squad. Dinwiddie has proven to be an exceptional 6th man and talk about Joe Harris, who has been putting up nice numbers. From a first glance, it seems like Philadelphia 76er should have this one in the bag, however, I have my doubts they will have such an easy time against Brooklyn Nets. While 76ers have one of the best starting lineups, Brooklyn have a far deeper squad, which carried them through the "bad times" into the playoffs. While I am still among the people who believe in Philadelphia to secure this match, I can imagine they will struggle to get easy points. Last H2H matches seem to suggest this one will end in over numbers, but we must take into consideration, that those were regular season matches and now we are in playoffs. In the playoffs, the defence is what teams focus on which ultimately ends up in lower scoring matches compared to regular season. This was clearly seen in the last season, when teams failed to reach their ppg average from regular season. With that in mind, and high over/under line offered, we will go for under 231.5 for this match, as I do not believe teams will be able to reach 230s. What works in favour of our prediction is also the fact that Embiid could miss the first match and even if he appears for 76ers, he won't be 100%. Prediction: Under 231.00 points