NBA Pick #2: 705 Utah Jazz @ 706 Philadelphia 76ers
Rating: 5 units - ***Top Play***Pick: Under 217 (Play up to 215)
Odds: -105 / 1.95 on Pinnacle Sports OR -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker
Jimmy Butler's debut with Philadelphia didn't end well as the Sixers lost at Orlando, with the Sixers getting frozen on offense during the fourth quarter. More than defensively, I believe Philadelphia will have issues in adapting Butler to their offense as he is a player with the opposite style to the one the Sixers normally use. This was why Philadelphia played more half court sets against Orlando. Even though Orlando isn't a top offensive team, Orlando is a bad matchup for Philadelphia, as they have Vucevic whose range put Embiid in some tough spots. This was why Vucevic ended the game with 10-19 FG, 3-6 3pts and 7-8 FT for 30 points and 4 assists. That won't happen tonight, as Gobert's offensive range is the rim and nothing else.
On the other side, Utah's rim defense will be a tough matchup for Embiid. Utah is coming from a complete meltdown loss at Dallas where they didn't reach the 70 points mark. Their lack of confidence on offense was evident and I don't expect it to suddenly disappear tonight. All these factors make these 217 points line to be set way too high and so, I'll be taking the Under in here in a Top Play!