The Portland Trail Blazers visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday evening, aiming to complete a sweep of their season series. Philadelphia enters without top scorers Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid due to injuries.
Portland (32-35) has not secured back-to-back wins since a three-game streak in early February, capped by a victory over Philadelphia. Fresh off a 124-114 defeat of the Utah Jazz, the Trail Blazers open a five-game road trip—after going 2-3 on their prior one—and trail the ninth-place Golden State Warriors by half a game in the Western Conference standings. The game tips off at 6 p.m. ET at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia (36-31), who share eighth place in the East with the Atlanta Hawks at 6-9 across their last 15 outings. That stretch opened with a 135-118 road loss to Portland on Feb. 9. Despite sidelining Maxey (29.0 points per game, fourth in the NBA) with a finger injury and Embiid (26.6 ppg) with an oblique issue, the 76ers have claimed three straight wins and four of five at home, including Saturday's 104-97 decision over the Brooklyn Nets. Philadelphia ranks tied for 12th in scoring at 115.7 points per game, while Portland sits 18th at 115.3; the 76ers have scored under 110 in each of their past two contests. Consensus odds list the Trail Blazers as 8.5-point favorites. The SportsLine Projection Model projects the game total under 228.5 points in nearly 66% of simulations. SportsLine expert Mike Barner (71-33 on recent NBA player props) targets 76ers forward Justin Edwards for over 11.5 points, following 12-plus in three of his last four appearances.
