New Orleans Pelicans at Philadelphia 76ers odds, picks and prediction

Previewing Friday’s New Orleans Pelicans at Philadelphia 76ers NBA odds and lines, with basketball picks, tips and predictions.

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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