Many bettors are looking forward to taking another Lakers game over the total tonight, and it's understandable why. On this road trip the Lakers totaled 239 points in Houston, 246 in Boston, and 241 in Brooklyn. In between Boston and Brooklyn the Lakers submitted a far superior defensive performance against the Knicks, no doubt as a result of their MLK Day no-show in the Boston Garden where they allowed the Celtics to pour in 139 points on 56% shooting. That huge under in Madison Square Garden was only the second time in the Lakers' last nine games that they've stayed under 227 points. The other was also against the Knicks, a January 7th game at Staples Center that stayed under by 19.5.
Tonight's over bettors, however, might experience great frustration. The Sixers have played their last eight games without Joel Embiid, who had one of his fingers grotesquely bent in an unusual direction on January 6th against the Thunder. Without him, the Sixers have stayed under in 6 of those 8 games. Both overs were against the Nets, and both of those games were played within the last ten days during which the Nets have lost and failed to cover five in a row while allowing 118, 117, 117, 117, and 128 points. The Sixers have also stayed under in 6 of their last 8 first halves, again the only exceptions being against the Nets. In the six other first halves, the Sixers have stayed under by 3.5, 17.5, 17, 15, 13.5, and 11. The Sixers have stayed under in all 8 second halves, albeit by smaller margins (7.5, 5, 2, 2.5, 9, 28, 11.5, and 3). That's an average of 8.6 points per second half.
On Wednesday night in Toronto, matters were made even worse for the Sixers when Josh Richardson departed just four minutes into the game with a hamstring strain. He didn't return and won't play tonight. Said Ben Simmons after the loss in Toronto, "He's a big part of this team offensively and defensively, so we're going to miss him for however long he's out." In the previous seven games without Embiid in there, Richardson was averaging 17 points per game.
By now most people know that LeBron needs to score just 18 points tonight to pass Kobe Bryant for third place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. This is a big deal, but not so much to LeBron. I think this has a lot of people expecting him to put on a show offensively, but I expect (and hope) he plays his usual game, which involves passing and defense. The Sixers figure to hoist a lot of threes tonight (they tried 46 of them on Wednesday without Richardson around). As long as they don't dazzle from downtown, I think I'll be okay with under 218.5, under 112.5 in the first half, and one more under bet at halftime.
MrBator on the Total 
always nice to see an old covers Legend I respect back posting 
Hot Forum Topics
