Philadelphia 76ers vs. San Antonio Spurs: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/3/2023

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Venue: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

Where to watch: BSSW-SA, NBCSP

DraftKings: 76ers -9

FanDuel: 76ers -10

BetMGM: 76ers -9.5

Caesars: 76ers -9.5

76ers: 33-17

Spurs: 14-38

The All-Stars have been announced, the trade deadline is days away, and the NBA season has never seen so much parity and intrigue than it has at this moment. All you need to do is look at the Western Conference and laugh with a hearty burst at how ridiculous this season has been. You know what's not ridiculous? Our champion handicappers continuing to kill it on the NBA level over the last 30 days. All you need to do is take one look at what they're doing and see that this is the place to be as we purge through the second half of the season. Doc's Sports has been tremendous over the last month with a 17-8-0 run and net profit of $8,100. Team Del Genio has also been very good at an 11-6-1 run that has made for some very exciting runs near to the top. Basketball is taking full swing with football about to be set on the back burner, and you want to be locked in at bigal.com. Take advantage of our Best Bets page at bigal.com to see what our champion handicappers bring to the table. Make sure you're following winners at bigal.com and get that same kind of money in your pocket.

76ers: won 105-94 vs. Magic

Spurs: lost 119-109 vs. Kings

I'm not quite sure what this game is going to entail between the Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs, only for the sheer fact that San Antonio was probably going to get run out of their own building on Friday and Philadelphia is probably needing to blow off some steam in some capacity knowing that they are only getting one All Star to the All Star game this year.

 

Of course, I don't fully believe that that is going to be the end all be all with the 76ers, but it is quite crazy that Joel Embiid is absolutely going into the All-Star game and deservingly so as the leading scorer in the league. But James Harden is not. And as Philadelphia gets ready to face the lowly spurs who are thinking more of the lottery than they are of what is actually transpiring during the All-Star break, do we really need an angry Philadelphia team going deep into the season?

 

The 76ers are coming off a victory over the Orlando Magic at home, 105-94, in which Orlando came within one point of covering as 10 point underdogs. Embiid finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds, typical MVP stuff, and harden finished one rebound shy of a triple double with 26 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds.

 

“I didn't think we played great,” coach Doc Rivers said. “But we played good enough to win. We'll take that.”

 

In typical Doc fashion, he would equate it to that.

 

The 76ers had covered three in a row before these last four games in which they have gone 2-2 against the spread, but sometimes all that matters with this group is that they find ways to win. And the fact of the matter is that the 76 years have won eight of their last nine games and are looking every bit like the dangerous threat in the Eastern Conference that they are.

 

San Antonio meanwhile is not. The spurs are coming into this game having lost seven straight after losing 119-109 against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. Not that there is any shame in losing too suddenly the second best team in the Western Conference, which might prove I am having a stroke, but San Antonio has fought fairly hard against a lot of these teams this year and they should not be slighted in the least.

 

Malakai Branham came off the bench to score 22 points in 32 minutes and he was probably the most efficient offensive player that the spurs had despite shooting 54.5% from the field. Keldon Johnson had 18 points but took eighteen shots to get there, and Jakob Poeltl had 18 points and 12 rebounds.

 

“They do it every game,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “They stick with it and they play hard every game. One out of every 10 or so, we might lay and egg, but everybody else does the same thing. I have always been pleased with their effort and their stick-to-itiveness.”

 

In addition to the Spurs losing seven straight, they have failed to cover in their last six. You would be hard pressed to find the last time San Antonio was a favorite in any game. Definitely not in these last six. They have gotten as high as 13 points in some games and have gotten as low as 5.5, and still have failed to cover.

 

This could potentially be a huge blowout if San Antonio has no answer for the likely MVP of the league. 76ers 124, Spurs 100

76ers are 14-5 ATS after an under this season.

76ers are 13-4 ATS after revenging a loss this season.

Spurs are 12-14 ATS as a home underdog this season.

Spurs are 5-2 ATS against Atlantic Division opponents this season.

PG: James Harden

SG: De'Anthony Melton

SF: Tobias Harris

PF: P.J. Tucker

C: Joel Embiid

PG: Tre Jones

SG: Romeo Langford

SF: Keldon Johnson

PF: Jeremy Sochan

C: Jakob Poeltl

Points: Joel Embiid -- 33.5

Rebounds: Joel Embiid -- 10.1

Assists: James Harden -- 11.0

Points: Keldon Johnson -- 21.8

Rebounds: Jakob Poeltl -- 9.1

Assists: Tre Jones -- 6.3