Sixers on pace to fall just short of preseason number for wins, unless pace with Joel Embiid is factored in

There was a time last summer when Ben Simmons might actually play for the Sixers this season. The thinking was that cooler heads would prevail. Simmons would see all the money he’d forfeit by quitting on the team, etc. When the oddsmakers sat down in July to hash out projected NBA win totals, they counted on it. At the SuperBook in Vegas, Jeff Sherman and his crew opened the Sixers at 51.5 wins.

The Sixers are third in the Eastern Conference and still are underperforming this season according to that proposition. At 35-23, they are on pace for (rounding up) 50 wins. Sure doesn’t feel like it, though, with Joel Embiid having an MVP type of season and the arrival of James Harden.

To get over 51.5 wins, they’ll have to go 17-7, a winning percentage of .708. Through 58 games, they are winning at a clip of .603.

“Some people look at the Sixers’ record and it doesn’t look that great,” said Jay Croucher, head oddsmaker at PointsBet. “Well, when Embiid plays, they are [31-15]. That’s a [55-win] pace.”

That would get it done, but time is running out.

Cleveland preseason 27.5 wins, current 35, projected 50: The Cavaliers are the only team on the SuperBook preseason board to already exceed their expected win total. And this comes despite a choppy 9-10 start to the season.

Phoenix’s preseason line was 49.5. The Suns already have 48 and are on pace for 68. That was before losing Chris Paul to a broken thumb for the next 6-8 weeks.

Memphis (41-19) is three wins shy of eclipsing its preseason total of 43.5. Sure, Ja Morant can dunk with the best in the game, but the Grizzlies are second in the league in scoring, first in rebounding, and three of their top players are 23 or younger.

+22.5: Cleveland (35-23) preseason, 27.5, on pace for 50.

+18.5: Phoenix (48-10) preseason, 49.5, on pace for 68

+12.5: Memphis (41-19) preseason, 43.5, on pace for 56.

+10.5: Golden State (42-17) preseason, 47.5, on pace for 58.

+9.5: Minnesota (31-28) preseason, 33.5; on pace for 43.

+8.5: Toronto (32-25) preseason, 37.5; on pace for 46.

The Lakers were projected to win 51 games. At this stage (27-31), they’ll need to rally to reach mediocrity. When they acquired Russell Westbrook last summer, PointsBet dropped their championship odds from +650 to +450. As of Monday, they were +2800.

Indiana is just 20-40 at the break, but there’s excitement with the trade-deadline arrival of Tyrese Haliburton from Sacramento. Won’t be enough to get them over their preseason total of 43.5 wins.

Brooklyn (31-28) is enough of a soap opera that its injured players should be treated at General Hospital. The Nets were projected for 54.5 wins, the highest on SuperBook’s preseason board (along with Milwaukee). They’ll be lucky to break even.

-16.5: Indiana (20-40) preseason 43.5, on pace for 27

-13.5: L.A. Lakers (27-31) preseason 51.5, on pace for 38.

-11.5: Brooklyn (31-28) preseason 54.5, on pace for 43

-8.5: Portland (25-34) preseason 43.5, on pace for 35

-8.5: Detroit (13-45) preseason 26.5, on pace for 18

On Monday, the Flyers made it 14 consecutive games in which two or more goals were scored in the third period.

It’s arcane, but the sharp players have been on it. The ‘books have gotten wise, however, as PointsBet’s odds on over 1.5 was -200, while BetMGM’s was an astounding -250. Caesars offered over 2.5 goals at -105.

The Flyers and Hurricanes combined for three goals in the final period, which means all the over bettors paid. Stick tap to data analyst Chris Otto (@PSUOtto), who originally pointed this out.

CBB: Rutgers had won four straight games — all against ranked teams — before losing to then-No. 5 Purdue, 84-72, on Sunday. The Scarlet Knights again covered most of the plays as the consensus line was 12.5, though there were some 12s out there.

NBA: The All-Star Game over/under opened at 319.5 and closed at 324.5. It finished at 323 when Team LeBron beat Team Durant 163-160.

PGA: Kudos to the player who laid $35K on Joaquin Niemann on Thursday after Niemann grabbed a three-shot lead after the first round of the weekend event at Riviera. Niemann was 28-1 at the time, down from his opening 50-1, and the wager paid $980,000.