Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA – Photo by Icon sport
Raptors vs 76ers: The Sixers looking to continue their dominance
The Philadelphia 76ers will host the Toronto Raptors on Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers have won 7 of the last 10 games over the Raptors including the last five, including two games this season.
Are the Raptors going to rebuild?
The Toronto Raptors are currently in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with an 11-16 record. They have lost 7 of the last 10 games and are coming off a 113-104 loss to the Denver Nuggets. The Raptors hired a new head coach, Darko Rajakovic, going into the season and traded starting point guard Fred VanVleet. Things are not working well for them, and maybe they will go into a full rebuild mode, trading their All-Star Pascal Siakam and turning to younger players such as Scottie Barnes.
How good are the Sixers?
The Philadelphia 76ers are third in the Eastern Conference with a 19-8 record, two games behind the leading Boston Celtics. The Sixers have won 7 of the last 8 games and are coming off a 127-113 win over the top team in the West, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Joel Embiid had another impressive performance, going for 51 points and 12 rebounds. The center is leading the league with 35.1 points per game and is the front-runner to win the MVP award for a second consecutive season.
Betting Trends
The Sixers have played over total points in 57 of their last 90 games overall. They also did so in 10 of their last 14 games played in December and 15 of the last 19 games played on Friday. The Raptors are over total points in 6 of their last 8 road games played on Friday.
Nick Nurse going against his former team
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse will go against the team where he spent 10 years as an assistant and head coach, leading the Raptors to the 2019 NBA championship.
Injury Reports
Nicolas Batum and Robert Covington are listed day-to-day for the Sixers while Christian Koloko is out for the Raptors.
Prediction and Conclusion
The Sixers are in excellent shape lately, winning 7 of the last 8 games and having an 11-4 home record. Unlike them, the Raptors are struggling and are only 3-8 on the road. Joel Embiid is in killer mode scoring at least 40 points in four of the last five games. The Sixers are fourth in the league with 122.3 points per game and have gone over it in 7 of the last 8 games. The Raptors will not stand a chance to slow down the Sixers, and this will be another high-scoring game going over the given line of 229.5 points in total.
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