The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers square off in Game 7 on Sunday with the winner getting a ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Bookmaker Bovada has the total set for Boston at 103.5 points with the odds for both the over and under at -115. The total stands at 97.5 points for Philadelphia with the odds at -110 for the over and at -120 for the under.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 13th, 2:30 P.M. (EST)
The C’s are looking for their third Conference Finals spot in four years, while the Sixers are still trying to establish themselves among the elite group of teams in the league. The team has suffered a couple of second-round heartbreaks in recent years and must be desperate to finally make the breakthrough into the Conference Finals.
Philadelphia had a great opportunity to close out the series in Game 6 on Wednesday when they had home-court advantage, but Doc Rivers’ team went cold in the final quarter and Jayson Tatum had a huge finish to the game, scoring 12 points inside the final 4:14 of play after struggling the whole night.
Boston fans will hope to see a much more consistent Tatum on home court Sunday. He is the team leader and will be expected to carry his side into the next round. Tatum has been averaging a double-double for the postseason with 26.2 points and 10.4 rebounds and anything less than that would definitely be a disappointment for the Celtics faithful in Game 7.
The Philly supporters will want to see the one-two punch of Joel Embiid and James Harden in full flow. The duo disappeared in Game 6 when things got tough inside the final minutes of play and another poor performance from either one definitely won’t sit well with Sixers fans.
As the regular season MVP, the biggest pressure to perform will be on Embiid, who has never made it past the second round during his time in the NBA. He has developed into one of the league’s biggest names, but players who under-perform in the playoffs always tend to get a bad reputation.
Embiid has been battling a right knee injury in the playoffs this year, but it shouldn’t be an excuse for him after playing the last couple of games without a brace he initially wore when he returned to the court in Game 2 of the second-round series. In eight playoff outings, Embiid has averaged 24.8 points and 10.0 rebounds. He’s been getting around eight points less per game compared to the regular season despite playing more minutes.
