The Brooklyn Nets are proverbial underdogs regardless of who they play. When they take the court Friday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, the odds are not in their favor. Look for the Nets to give a consistent effort against the 76ers, but come up short on the scoreboard when the game is over.
Even after three full days of no game-action, the Brooklyn Nets (3-14), coming off a third straight cover against the spread despite a two-game losing streak, have their priorities in order.
It is back to work on the ‘Cameron Boozer Sweepstakes’ for the underdog Nets (+7.5), playing their second straight home game when they host the Philadelphia 76ers (9-8) Friday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The 76ers are (-7.5) road favorites for the scheduled 7:30 p.m (ET) tip-off. The over/under total is 224.5 points.
(The Nets’ TV broadcast is on Yes Network, as per usual, with Ryan Rucco (play-by-play) and Sarah Kustok (analyst) on the call.)
Brooklyn, coming off a 113-100 home loss on the second game of a back-to-back spot against the New York Knicks in their return to the borough on Monday night, after playing two road games in three nights last weekend, which included a straight up win as 14-point underdogs vs. the Boston Celtics, are (+245) money line dogs.
Philadelphia is (-290) to take the money line cash.
Brooklyn, 0-8 at home this season, has lost by 10-plus points five times at Barclays Center.
The 76ers, 4-3 on the road this season, are 5-5 against the spread in their last 10 games.
F Cam Thomas (left hamstring strain), G/F Michael Porter Jr. (lower back tightness) and C Ben Saraf (ankle) are listed as out tonight for the Nets, in addition to C Joel Embiid (knee) and F Paul George (ankle) being listed as out for Philadelphia.
The Nets, down just 53-51 early in the third period before the bigger and more physical Knicks pulled away, tend to play hard for head coach Jordi Fernandez, a solid communicator who stresses effort.
The Nets got to 104-104 with 4:24 remaining in regulation vs. the Raptors on Sunday night, before getting outscored 15-5 down the stretch, thanks in part to poor shooting, in an eventual 10-point loss in Toronto.
Philadelphia, even with Tyrese Maxey, was apparently in a hurry to get to Brooklyn - after not only looking out of sorts, but at times appearing disinterested in their 41-point loss to Orlando, in front of a national TV audience on Tuesday night.
The 76ers, chucking up a number of ill-advices shots and repeatedly getting turned over by the Magic, showed the most fight during a skirmish between both teams late in the first half with Philadelphia trailing 82-54.
The forgettable performance, wasn’t a good look for Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse.
The Nets, 1-2 overall and 3-0 against the spread in their last three games, love to trap opposing backcourts and routinely look to apply pressure on the ball with multiple defenders in an effort to create turnovers and turn them into points.
And speaking of points: Keep an eye on Nets rookie sharp-shooter Noah Clowney, who is coming off a career-high 31 points vs. the Knicks, which included seven three-pointers, after a 22-point effort the night before vs. the Raptors.
Clowney continues to be a bright spot for the Nets.
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