Both the Cavaliers and 76ers played and lost last night, setting up an intriguing affair tonight at Wells Fargo Center. This will be the 3rd meeting between the two teams, the first two were decided by just 3 and 2 points with each team winning a road game. Donovan Mitchell did not play for the Cavs last night, which would explain why they lost by 7 points at home to Orlando. His status is unclear ahead of tonight’s game, it’s safe to say that this team is just not the same without him at the helm. Darius Garland did his best to pick up the slack yesterday with 18 points and 10 assists, Cleveland actually shot well from the field (55%), however their defense from before the All-Star break was nowhere to be found.
Philadelphia also struggled heavily last night, putting up just 96 points past the shorthanded New York Knicks. Without their leading scorer Joel Embiid, baskets are hard to come by these days, even when Tyrese Maxey is having a huge night scoring 35 points. A balanced team effort and 6 players scoring 10 or more points got the job done last time for Philadelphia when they played Cleveland, however they did acquire 2 new players in Kyle Lowry and Buddy Hield since then, so it could take them a while to incorporate them into the offense. The 76ers are 3.5 point underdogs here, they’ve failed to cover the spread in 7 straight home games and are just 3-8 ATS in their last 11 vs Eastern Conference opponents.
