Looking at the Sixers Chances and some Odds for the NBA Playoffs

Despite winning their final eight games, the Sixers could not avoid the NBA Play-in round, and will be facing the Miami Heat and Philadelphia fan favorite Jimmy Butler for the seventh seed of the actual NBA Playoffs. The loser, as I understand it, will face the winner of Chicago and Atlanta for a final chance to secure a spot in the playoffs with the eighth seed.

In case you didn’t hate the Play-in concept enough – an 82-game season coming down to potentially two games so corporate entities can make even more money – it makes it difficult to get the odds on the playoff series since the series aren’t all set. But I did find odds for the series that are set to begin this weekend, along with some interesting odds on winning the NBA Championship.

The Sixers have been fairly dominant when Joel Embiid plays. Checking his game log they were 31-7 when he played by my count. (Literally, I counted, so this is far from official.) Yet, the fan in me worries about a play-in situation against the Heat, which finished the season on a 7-3 run. I would have expected a much easier matchup for a team that is a contender masquerading as a play-in team. That said, I think the Sixers win Wednesday night against Miami. Worst case scenario, they lose, but defeat Chicago or Atlanta, which creates a huge first round matchup with the Celtics.

A couple weeks ago, I said the Sixers were the wild card of the playoffs if they could avoid Boston and Milwaukee in the early rounds. It turns out they might have been better off facing the Bucks, who dropped to the third seed and lost their superstar center. I still think the Sixers have a chance to go to the Finals. They win Wednesday, get the New York Knicks in the opening round and avoid Boston until the Conference Finals. By then they’re rolling, Embiid’s hopefully still healthy and in shape, and they upset Boston. I’m not predicting it; I’m saying it’s a realistic scenario.

A quick look at the odds to win the NBA Finals has me intrigued by the Sixers and the Golden State Warriors. By my count, the Warriors went 19-10 to finish the season after a rocky early season. They have to win two play-in games, I believe, to make the playoffs.

On DraftKings on Tuesday afternoon they were +8000 to win the NBA Finals.

The Sixers were +1900.

To meet in the Finals (parlaying each to win their respective Conferences), they were +34750.

Just some thoughts.