Vegas recognizing 76ers' growth

As the 76ers have been determinedly digging themselves out of an early-season hole to approach .500 in the standings, they have won some measure of respect in Las Vegas.

In Wednesday's home game against struggling Washington, the Sixers were 91/2-point favorites. That betting line was significant in that it represented Philadelphia's largest margin as a favorite in nearly two seasons.

In beating the Wizards, 117-94, the Sixers easily covered that relatively big point spread. But more important is the road they have traveled to being considered formidable enough to merit laying 91/2 points, regardless of the opponent.

Since mid-November, after the Sixers had limped out of the starting gate at 3-13, Philadelphia has been battering the point spread and is the NBA's top team against the line at 36-20-1. They are 12-5 against the spread in the last four weeks.

Even when Philadelphia dropped four in a row against the line in mid-January, two of those point-spread losses were by just 11/2 points.

"The Sixers have gotten to the point where they can be laying points on the road and still win," said Kevin Rogers, a senior writer who specializes in handicapping the NBA for vegasinsider.com, a website that provides news and statistics on sports gambling. "And they're a team that can take care of business against the teams" they should beat.

Rogers pointed out that the Sixers' slow start was especially worrisome because four of the losses in the season's first month came against conference cellar-dwellers Cleveland and Toronto.

"But Philadelphia is the type of team that's going to give you everything they've got just about every night, and the credit for that has to go to [coach] Doug Collins," Rogers said.

Mike Seba, the NBA expert for Las Vegas Sports Consultants, a company that provides betting odds to Las Vegas casinos, agreed that Collins probably deserves much of the credit for the Sixers' rise as both a point-spread beast and a team with a shot to make the playoffs after a disastrous 2009-10.

"They don't have a lot of prima donnas on that team, so they're buying into Collins' coaching," Seba said "They have some depth and they're playing pretty good defense."

In Seba's NBA power ratings, the Sixers started the season with a rating of 51, which was middle-of-the-pack. In contrast, the Miami Hear had the highest rating with a 64. But four months into the season, the Sixers have climbed six points in the ratings, moving ahead of seven teams to rank No. 9 overall.

A team's rating goes up only with exceptional performances against the line, so the Sixers' persistent ascent in the power ratings is indicative of consistently surprising the oddsmakers.

Chris David, sports editorial director for vegasinsider.com, said that wagering odds are influenced by perception as much as reality, and even oddsmakers can be slow to change opinions. But the NBA all-star break may have given the linemakers a chance to reconsider the 76ers.

"Unless they're playing a San Antonio or a Boston at home," David said, "they should be the favorite whenever they're in Philadelphia."

"I'll say this much for the Sixers," Seba said. "They're not a team anyone is going to want to play in the first round of the playoffs."