Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics Game 6 NBA Playoff Odds

The Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers has gone through a few twists, with the Celtics winning two straight to go up 2-1 only for the Sixers to respond in kind to go up 3-2. Game 6 will be in Philadelphia on May 11th at 730PM and NBA betting sites and betting apps are expecting the Celtics to be able to send it back to Boston for a Game 7 as slight moneyline favorites for this matchup.

Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics NBA Odds - May 11th, 730PM EST

The 76ers were massive underdogs for Game 5, and they came out and punched Boston in the mouth in their own building. Philly now gets to take a shot at finishing the series at home, where they are the third best team against the spread this year, putting up an impressive 27-17-1 mark at Wells Fargo Center. All odds provided by Betway.

Philadelphia 76ers Odds

After James Harden put up career best performances to win Games 1 and 4 for the 76ers, 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid proved he deserved the award in Game 5 by taking over the game on both ends to the tune of 33 points, seven rebounds, and a whopping four blocks to push the Sixers to a 115-103 win that was not nearly as close as the final score would have you think.

As is often the case in the NBA today, the team that shot well from the three point line and defended their own three point line better is the team that won the game, as the Sixers were able to shoot 40 percent from deep on 30 shots while the Celtics struggled in putting up 32 percent on 38 long balls.

The Sixers also dominated the glass 49-36 which allowed them to get out in transition more, which led to a lot of easy baskets in the form of 15 fast break points compared to Boston’s measly 5.

Philly was also lethal from the charity stripe, going 23-for-27 on the night including 18-for-21 for Embiid and Harden. The Sixers are hard to stop when their top two players are being aggressive and getting two feet in the paint, so the fact that both Harden and Embiid were attacking is a positive sign.

The Sixers were +7.5 underdogs last game but are now just +2.5 underdogs for Game 6 at home. They’ve been excellent in Philly all year, going 32-13 straight up, so they’re in a great spot here to pay out on + odds. If Embiid plays inside the three-point line and gets his mid range game going like he did in Game 5, the Sixers will be hard to stop.

Boston Celtics Odds

The Celtics must be at a loss for words after confidently going up 2-1 in the series only to lose two straight including a crucial Game 5. And it’s not like the game was even that close either.  The Sixers had a double-digit lead for essentially the entire second half, and the Celtics could never really put together any sort of sustained run.

It was also same old same old for Jayson Tatum as the MVP candidate started off cold as ice for the second straight game, going 0-for-6 to start Game 5 after starting Game 4 1-for-9. Tatum picked it up in a big way later on in those games, but three quarters of a good game is not going to cut it in the second round of the playoffs.

Tatum needs to put together four good quarters of hoop, and his sidekick Jaylen Brown needs to do the same. Brown has been very consistent overall, scoring 23+ points in eight straight games, but within each game he’s gone ghost several times. If Boston is going to beat this Sixers team right now, they’re going to need their big guns to step up for a full 48 minutes in Game 6.

Al Horford has been great at defending Joel Embiid so far in this series, but a brutal shooting night where he went 0-for-7 from the field meant that he was essentially unplayable for coach Joe Mazulla. Robert Williams is also a solid defender but he hasn’t had the same success against Embiid when deputizing for Horford.

The Celtics have their backs against the wall, but they’ve been here before, taking down the Milwaukee Bucks last year after having gone down 3-2 in that series. If Boston is going to push this series to seven games, they need Tatum and Brown to be ever present and they need their role players to hit open threes, which they were not doing in Game 5.