Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Philadelphia 76ers Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/12/2022

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA

Where to watch: NBCSP, BSOH

WynnBet: 76ers -4

BetMGM: NL

Caesars: NL

Cavaliers: 35-21

76ers: 33-22

Cavs: won 120-113 at Pacers on Friday

76ers: won 100-87 vs. Thunder on Friday

The Ben Simmons saga has finally come to an end. We have reached the end of such an impasse. No longer can we talk about the Philadelphia 76ers and attach Simmons’ name to such a drama for the world to see.

Wait, what’s that? It turns into the James Harden drama now? Well, how on Earth are we as a basketball society to function with some of this stupidness to offset one sack of drama with another?

Alas, friends, we have reached the conclusion that the NBA’s trade deadline remains the greatest thing to ever grace our social media feeds. Because Thursday afternoon provided us a Simmons-for-Harden trade that I don’t think anybody anticipated to happen, let alone with one hour to go before the deadline, because things were just so weird for the longest time that there were so many channels saying it was, then it wasn’t.

Even just thinking about it now makes my brain hurt like the size of the Grand Canyon. All you need to know, really, is that the 76ers have finally moved on from Simmons and Harden is now the lead role player to Joel Embiid’s Batman and we are to all sit around and enjoy the tomfoolery.

Harden is now the one brought to Philadelphia in hopes of being that last piece to the championship puzzle. And the 76ers’ new guard isn’t expected to play against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday due to a nagging hamstring injury that even kept him out of Brooklyn’s latest games. But I think we all need to think a tad like Charles Barkley. He’s healthy now, right?

Perhaps not, even now that the trade is official. But the 76ers are hoping this spark will leapfrog them to some more wins in the coming weeks. Philly is playing the second half of a back-to-back after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 100-87 on Friday in Philly. Simmons, who has not played this season citing mental health, is gone and Embiid is just happy to not deal with questions like that anymore.

"Yeah, I'm happy that I'm not going to be answering any more questions about that subject," Embiid said after finishing with 25 points and 19 rebounds in 35 minutes. "It's good that, not just for me, but my teammates, the whole organization. The whole year, it was pretty annoying with the whole situation, but I'm glad that everybody has moved on. "I wish everybody the best in whatever they want to accomplish, but I'm focused on winning games here and trying to win a championship."

Out goes Simmons and in comes Harden, reunited with Daryl Morey one more time. It still is crazy that the situation of moving on from Brooklyn was even in Harden’s mind. Getting together with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving was supposed to be the icing on the cake. The three played together 16 times and they won 13. That should’ve been the coup de grace.

But between Irving’s vaccination situation and Durant’s current injury situation, I could understand why Harden would check out of that situation. Especially when the Nets have lost a billion games in a row. 

Embiid is playing like the frontrunner as the NBA MVP right now, and in comes a former MVP with the Houston Rockets to hopefully alleviate some of the pressure off of him. 

"Just excited. You talk about guys that I've played with, he's probably gonna be the best yet, based on what he's accomplished in his career so far,” Embiid said. "So it's just about getting everybody on the same page and finding the right way to play. We already have a system in place so we've just got to bring him along and incorporate a bunch of new stuff with a bunch of stuff that he's good at and put it all together."

Embiid went on to continue: "I think the way to look at it, every single time I touch a ball, there's a double- or triple-team which is gonna make my teammates and himself even better," Embiid said. "So now you really got a choice. Are you going to double me or are you going to double him? So you got to make that decision and based on every game it might change.

"Other teams might want to take me out of the game or other teams might want to take him out of the game. So we just adjust and then we just go from there. But like I said, it's exciting. I never played with someone like that. So I'm just excited for the new challenge and try to go and get it done."

Take all of that, and you know things could explode in a big way for Philly. Harden may not be there yet, but in time, it’ll be intriguing to watch. Seth Curry and Andre Drummond are gone, which hurts Philly in the short term and likely will in this game. The Cavaliers are still a very good team and are not the opponent the 76ers want to see off a back-to-back. 

The only way Philly wins is if Embiid dominates on both ends of the court. I can’t think that happens given Cleveland’s length and athleticism, and given how Philly’s depth has taken a hit because of it. I’ll go with Cleveland in a close one. Cavs by 5

The under is 12-4 when the Cavs play their second game in just five days.

The 76ers are 296-288 ATS against Central Division teams since 1996.

Cavs:
PG: Rajon Rondo

SG: Isaac Okoro

SF: Cedi Osman

PF: Evan Mobley

C: Jarrett Allen

76ers:
PG: Tyrese Maxey

SG: Furkan Korkmaz

SF: Matisse Thybulle

PF: Tobias Harris

C: Joel Embiid

Cavaliers: Darius Garland (back, out), Lauri Markkanen (ankle, out), Collin Sexton (knee, out)

76ers: James Harden (hamstring, out), Paul Millsap (out)

Points: Darius Garland -- 19.9

Rebounds: Jarrett Allen -- 11.2

Assists: Darius Garland -- 8.1

Points: Joel Embiid -- 29.4

Rebounds: Joel Embiid -- 10.9

Assists: James Harden -- 10.2