The Brooklyn Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers duke it out in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.
The Brooklyn Nets will be going back to the drawing board after getting blown out by the 76ers in a 121-101 road loss in Game 1. Mikal Bridges led the way with 30 points on 12 of 18 shooting, Cam Johnson added 18 points on seven of 11 shooting while Spencer Dinwiddie chipped in with 14 points and seven assists. As a team, the Nets shot 55 percent from the field and 13 of 29 from the 3-point line, but they struggled to contain the 76ers and were always fighting an uphill battle after allowing 67 points in the first half. The Nets constantly shot themselves in the foot with 19 turnovers and they trailed in this one by as many as 25 points at one stage.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers will have their eyes on going up 2-0 in the series after taking care of business in Game 1 on Saturday. Joel Embiid led the way with 26 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks, James Harden tallied 23 points with 13 assists while Tobias Harris chipped in with 21 points on nine of 14 shooting. As a team, the 76ers shot 47 percent from the field and a sizzling 21 of 43 from the 3-point line as they jumped all over the Nets from the start and were always in control after pouring in 37 points in the second quarter. De'Anthony Melton had a quiet game of just six points on two of nine shooting off the bench, but the 76ers had a total of five players finish in double figures in scoring.
Looking at the betting trends, the Nets are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 road games, 2-6 ATS in their last eight games against a team with a winning record and 0-4 ATS in their last four Conference Quarterfinals games. The 76ers are 25-12 ATS in their last 37 home games and 6-2 ATS in their last eight Conference Quarterfinals games.
Head to head, the over is 4-1 in the last five meetings overall and the Nets are 1-4 ATS in the last five meetings overall.
The Nets just weren't able to get into the contest after they allowed the 76ers off to a quick start in Game 1, so they need to come out swinging in this one. However, the 76ers were able to make it look easy at times on Saturday and I think we're going to see more of the same here. The Nets are only 1-4 ATS in the last five meetings overall and I'm backing that trend to continue as the 76ers cruise again.
The pick in this article is the opinion of the writer, not a PickDawgz site consensus.
AUTHOR: Peter Tran
Peter is busy writing amazing articles for PickDawgz but will create a bio soon.