Pick: Over 228
Let’s start by acknowledging the bad beat that was Saturday night’s Sixers-Mavericks game. We lost that one on a layup from Dallas forward Dwight Powell in the final 20 seconds. Okay, that’s enough of that. Moving on . . .
The Wizards have covered four straight since it became public on Dec. 29 that John Wall would miss the rest of the season due to heel surgery. In those four games, Washington is averaging slightly above 117 points per game. The last of those four covers was an outright win by 18 points in Oklahoma City on Sunday.
The Sixers are anticipating getting Jimmy Butler back in the starting lineup Tuesday which should only add to their offensive output. For the season, the over is hitting at about a 56% rate in Wizards games and 55% in Sixers games. Yeah, a lot of this is built into the posted total of 228, but we’re still going over.