How to profit from a dominant 76ers first-round victory over Brooklyn

The Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets kick off the real portion of the NBA playoffs Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.

These teams are very familiar with one another from being in the same division.

Philadelphia finished third in the conference, so it’ll have a home-court advantage over Brooklyn, which finished sixth. It’s been a struggle for visiting teams to win in Philadelphia, as the 76ers went 29-12 at home this season.

FanDuel has assembled a full menu of betting options for how the series might unfold. In this preview, we’ll revisit the regular season matchups between the two teams as a baseline for our projection for this first round.

Odds provided by FanDuel and as of 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 12. Subject to change.

Nets: (+560) / 76ers: (-800)

four games: (+260) / five games: (+195) / six games: (+280) / seven games: (+320)

Nets: +2.5 (+132) / 76ers: -2.5 (-162)

76ers: +2.5 (-8000) / 76ers: +1.5 (-2200) / 76ers: -1.5 (-310) / Nets: +1.5 (+240) / Nets: -1.5 (+980) / Nets: -2.5 (+1800)

76ers: 4-0 (+270) / 76ers: 4-1 (+175) / 76ers: 4-2 (+410) / 76ers: 4-3 (+500) / Nets: 4-0 (+7500) / Nets: 4-1 (+3400) / Nets: 4-2 (+1500) / Nets: 4-3 (+1500)

76ers: 3-0 (+184) / 76ers: 2-1 (+110) / Nets: 3-0 (+2200) / Nets: 2-1 (+390)

There’s no reason to get overwhelmed by all these betting options, as it’s best to begin your process by identifying a winner in this series and then assessing how you can extract the best value. For me, that team is the Sixers.

According to our Action Labs database, the 76ers are 24-11 straight up against the Nets in the past 35 meetings. That includes a 4-1 series win in the first round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs.

Moreover, Philadelphia won all four games against Brooklyn this season.

I went back and looked at the box score of each of those games, and a few in particular stood out. In one game, the 76ers won even without Joel Embiid, while Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons were on the court for the Nets.

» READ MORE: NBA championship futures: Clippers, Cavaliers worth betting as title long shots

The teams also met on the final day of the regular season in a battle of the benches, and the 76ers won in a lopsided 134-105 road victory. With Irving and Durant no longer on the team and Simmons out for the rest of the year, the Nets will undoubtedly have their hands full in this series.

Backing the 76ers to win the 76ers at -800 offers little value. Instead, if you like the 76ers to overwhelm the Nets in this series, you can back them on the series spread of -2.5 (-162).

I’d also recommend taking a shot with a 76ers sweep and the series ending in five games. I’m willing to sacrifice one of those tickets to get at least a 2-to-1 return on my money.

Last season, we saw the Nets get swept by a Bucks team with Durant and Irving on the floor. And given the recent dominance by the 76ers in this matchup, I don’t think you can rule out Philadelphia playing a minimum of games in this series before advancing.

» READ MORE: Full sports betting coverage from The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Inquirer is not an online gambling operator, or a gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.