Sixers vs. Spurs Betting Odds, Picks, Prediction (January 23, 2022)

On Sunday night, the Sixers will be in San Antonio to take on the Spurs, a team the Sixers only see twice a year and a team they beat just 16 days ago in Philadelphia. The Sixers blew a 24-point lead Friday night in a loss to an undermanned Los Angeles Clippers team. Sixers head coach Doc Rivers did about as much to stop the loss from happening as I did from my seat behind the basket where all of the Spurs’ shots kept falling in the last 18 minutes of the game. The loss dropped the Sixers into sixth place in the Eastern Conference, a half game ahead of the Charlotte Hornets for the last playoff guaranteed playoff spot. So yeah, that was a bad loss on a few levels.

The Spurs are 17-29 and not presently in the discussion to make the playoffs.

Let’s get into our Sixers vs. Spurs betting pick with player prop predictions, odds, and analysis for this January 23, 2022 matchup.

Sixers vs. Spurs Betting Pick (January 23, 2022)

Rivers really made a meal of his postgame press conference on Friday night. Here was a golden opportunity to say something unassailably bland and cliched in an attempt to turn the page in another seemingly endless NBA regular season. Why he didn’t say “as a team we needed to be better, we’re all accountable, it starts with me and we know what we need to work on,” or something similar, well, your guess is as good as mine.

Rivers is the classic “old enough to know better” NBA lifer. He played in the league for 14 seasons and certainly answered his share of annoying/pointed questions as a player. This is his 23rd season as a head coach in the league. So for 37 of his 60 years on the big blue marble, Rivers has been exposed to the same absolutely predictable and redundant cycle: pre-game, game, postgame. Prepare, play or coach, rehash. You can forgive Rivers for being a little tired of the process. But arrogance, especially arrogance borne of accomplishments from times long past and from successes in other places, nah, that’s not OK.

Asked what part of the loss Friday night was attributable to coaching, Rivers shot back “I don’t know. Would you ask Pop that question? No you wouldn’t. So don’t ask me that question. I’ve earned that.” Rivers anointing himself the equal of Gregg Popovich is…wow. Five rings to one. 300 fewer wins. Maybe do some research, Coach.

This answer from Rivers smelled of being the spiritual opposite of the quote so often attributed the Hall of Fame Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton: “When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.”

Ben Simmons is no longer an active player on this team in part because Rivers, putting it mildly, gave Simmons no vote of confidence after last year’s humiliating playoff exit. Joel Embiid is having an MVP-level season, and the Sixers are still in real danger of having to play into this year’s playoff draw.

No wonder no one is telling Rivers how great he is. But if you really want to know how great Rivers is, just ask him. He’ll absolutely let you know.

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Sixers vs. Spurs Odds

Here’s the line for the Sixers and Spurs at FanDuel Sportsbook:

• Point Spread: Sixers -1.5 (-110), Spurs +1.5 (-110)
• Moneyline: Sixers -120, Spurs +102
• Total: 221.5

Bets We Like With a Sixers Win

Sixers to Win and Over 221.5 Total Points (+236, FanDuel Sportsbook)

It’s a little uncharacteristic for a Popovich team, but this edition of the Spurs doesn’t play very good defense. The Spurs give up 111 points per game, 23rd in the NBA. So if the Sixers are going to win (spoiler: nope), then they’ll need to take advantage of the Spurs’ weakness on the defensive end.

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Bets We Like Independent of Outcome

Joel Embiid Over 31.5 Points (-115, Caesars Sportsbook)

We can’t control-C this prop because the point total keeps changing, but until the prop gets to 33.5 or higher or until Embiid cools off, we’re just taking this money that’s on offer. Embiid needed 30.5 to cash this prop on Friday night and scored 40. His entire team had 101. So…yeah.

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Tyrese Maxey Over 17.5 Points (-115, DraftKings Sportsbook)

We are a little less psyched about this one, because Maxey has some recent clunkers (13 points at Miami on January 15, 14 points home against Orlando on January 19). But this prop was 15.5 on Friday night and he had 19, cashing this relatively easily. Informing this prop are two significant elements. The first is the Spurs’ poor defensive record, which we already discussed. The second is the sneaky and growing injury list for the Sixers. Seth Curry is out with an ankle injury. Danny Green is out with a hip problem. Shake Milton is out indefinitely with a back issue. Matisse Thybulle is out with a shoulder strain, and his availability is also in some indefinite doubt. That’s why Maxey played 46 minutes on Friday night. He’ll probably play at least 40 minutes tonight, and he’ll have plenty of chances to get his shot up.

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Doug McDermott Over 10.5 Points (-120, FOX Bet)

McDermott has been in double figures in 15 of his last 20 games. The Sixers don’t have elite defenders at the guard position these days, and as the Clippers demonstrated two nights ago, the Sixers can be had from the arc. McDermott should hit this prop by the end of the third quarter.

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Sixers vs. Spurs Prediction

The Sixers have one of the four or five best players in the league right now and are barely favored to beat a 17-29 team. Why? Lots of reasons. The Sixers aren’t especially healthy. The Spurs are. The Sixers had to get on a plane to go to San Antonio to play this game as a one-off — the Sixers played their last two games at home and will play five in a row at home after this one. How annoyed must the Sixers be making this trip? And while Popovich is probably too nice a guy to take any shots at Rivers about invoking Popovich the other night, you know Popovich heard it. This is going to be a “keep my name out of your mouth” game for Pop.

Pick: Spurs moneyline (+100, Barstool Sportsbook)

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