The New Orleans Pelicans (30-36) travels to the “City of Brotherly Love” Friday to play the Philadelphia 76ers (45-21) at Wells Fargo Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET. Below, we analyze the Pelicans-76ers odds and lines, with NBA picks and predictions.
The 11th-place Pelicans just split a pivotal two-game miniseries with one of the teams they are chasing for a play-in spot in the 9-seed Golden State Warriors.
NOLA beat Golden State in the second of the back-to-back and have won three of the past four games and is 5-1 against the spread in the previous six games.
Philly has won six in a row (5-1 ATS) to jump atop the Eastern Conference standings, 2.5 games in front of the second-place Brooklyn Nets.
The Pelicans snapped a four-game losing skid to the Sixers by beating them in their first meeting this season 101-94 (April 9) and are 3-0-1 ATS in their last four games against Philly.
Pelicans at 76ers: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 7:30 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Pelicans +310 (bet $100 to win $310) | 76ers -400 (bet $400 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Pelicans +8.5 (-110) | 76ers -8.5 (-110)
- Over/Under: 229.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
Pelicans at 76ers: Key injuries
Pelicans
- SG Nickeil Alexander-Walker (ankle) questionable
- C Steven Adams (toe) doubtful
- SF Brandon Ingram (ankle) out
- SG Josh Hart (thumb) out
76ers
- SG Furkan Korkmaz (ankle) out
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Pelicans at 76ers: Odds, lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
76ers 124, Pelicans 109
Money line (ML)
PASS even though I’m confident Philly wins this one comfortably because the 76ers (-400) is too steep of a price for any NBA regular-season favorite this year.
Even tanking teams beat opponents they are heavy underdogs against, and NOLA at least has something to play for.
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Against the spread (ATS)
Wait until as close to tip-off for the final injury statuses of both teams before making a wager because if Adams misses tonight’s game then I’d BET the 76ERS -8.5 (-110) for 1 unit, but if Adams plays it’s more of a “lean”.
The Pelicans upset a fully loaded Sixers team earlier this season as 5.5-point home dogs without Ingram in the lineup mostly because Adams was able to reduce the damage done by All-Star big Joel Embiid.
Embiid physically overwhelms almost every center in the league aside from Adams. In fact, Adams averages more rebounds per game than Embiid in their seven head-to-head meetings, and Embiid only scored 14 points on 5-for-16 shooting with just 9 rebounds in the first Pelicans-76ers game this year.
Another factor for me in this matchup is the Sixers are almost impossible to beat if their 3-point shooters are knocking down shots and with no Adams on the floor Embiid is going to collapse NOLA’s perimeter defense.
There’s a good chance the Pelicans’ 3-point defense, which ranks 27th in the league, would hold up against the Sixers if they were fully healthy, but without Adams, I really like Philly’s chances to create margin in this game.
Over/Under (O/U)
PASS with a slight “lean” to the Over 229.5 (-110) since I really like Philly’s chances of scoring in the mid-120s, but without Ingram on the floor, it’s tough to see who else on the Pelicans scores aside from Zion Williamson.
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