The Philadelphia 76ers can complete a sweep of the Washington Wizards with a win this Monday on the road. Will the Sixers go 4-0 in the first round? Or will the Wizards avoid a sweep and live to fight for another game? Check out our preview of this game below.
The Sixers are having it way too easy in the first round. They have the look and feel of a team that’s simply too much for Washington, and they have a 3-0 series lead to prove that. Not once so far in the series that the Sixers have been seriously threatened by Washington. Not even in the last game, where the series was played at Wizards’ homecourt for the first time. Joel Embiid scored 36 points in that game while shooting 14 of 18 from the field. The Sixers know that Washington has no one who can contain Embiid, and the plan for them in Game 4 is to just continue giving the Cameroonian the ball. However, Tobias Harris, Ben Simmons, and Seth Curry are also producing big in the series. So far in the first round, Philly is averaging 125.7 points per game on 54.5 percent shooting from the field.
The Sixers are 4-1 against the spread in their last five games overall. The under is 4-0 in their last four games on a Monday.
Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal are the givens for Washington. No matter what, the Wizards will rely on those two to carry the team. The question for them is where exactly will the support for those players come from? Westbrook had a triple-double of 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in Game 3, while Beal put up 25 points. Outside of them, Daniel Gafford is the next most consistent producer for Washington in this series. Gafford, who had 16 points in Game 3, is averaging 13.0 points on 83.3 percent shooting from the field in the first round. He is also taking just 6.0 shots per game, so the Sixers might have to give him more chances on offense. Davis Bertans is also long due for a good game. He is only averaging 7.3 points while shooting just 29.4 percent from deep. As a team, the Wizards are making just 23.4 percent of their shots from behind the arc in the playoffs, thus far.
The Wizards are 5-1 against the spread in their last six games after failing to cover in the previous game. The over is 5-2 in the Wizards’ last seven games as an underdog.
