Mar 3, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) shoots against Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) during the third quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Two of the best centers in the NBA match up tonight as Joel Embiid’s Philadelphia 76ers play at Rudy Gobert’s Minnesota Timberwolves.
The 76ers have enjoyed their recent road trips, winning four of their past five on the road over quality teams including Milwaukee and Miami, but will be playing on no rest tonight at Minnesota.
The Timberwolves, meanwhile, have won three straight – all on the road – on a tour of California that included both L.A. teams and Sacramento, last playing in a win at the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.
It’s anyone’s guess who will win tonight’s game, but you can look at recent matchup history between the big men when making your prop picks.
Here’s a couple of bets that play both sides of this matchup:
It’s always a little scary to bet against a perennial MVP candidate, but this number is too high, even for Embiid.
Playing against Rudy Gobert is no joke, and that’s been reflected in the box score whenever these two matchup. Embiid has cleared this over in one of eight games against Gobert across his career and he’s coming off a back-to-back after beating the Pacers in a 147-143 thriller on Monday night.
It’s not just Embiid’s history against Gobert that makes this number too high, either. Philly’s face of the franchise has hit this over in just four of his past 10 games as Tyrese Maxey (23+ points in five straight games) has taken over more of the scoring duties.
Rudy Gobert OVER 11.5 Rebounds
Philadelphia 76ers @ Minnesota Timberwolves
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Today at 6:30 PM
Odds last updated
March 7th, 2023, at 4:59 pm
Gobert is still one of the best rebounders in the league, fourth in the NBA with 11.6 rebounds per game, and he’s had even more opportunities with Karl Anthony-Towns sidelined.
Tonight, Gobert will match up with Sixers superstar Joel Embiid, a player he actually has a good history against. Gobert has faced Embiid eight times in his career, averaging 14.4 points and 12.8 rebounds in those matchups.
He’s cleared this number in five of his eight games against Embiid (he only played 20 minutes in one matchup in 2016) and has cleared this number in four of his past six games. Considering that Philadelphia is 27th in the NBA in opponent defensive rebounding percentage and KAT remains out, Gobert is in a good position to get to 12+ boards tonight.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
