In today’s SportSense Entertainment Newsletter presented by SportSense Premium…

Additional Model Predictions ⬇️

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There were plenty of model predictions to go around yesterday across the NBA, with our model focusing in on one of those predictions in our Featured Matchup. That prediction went 0-1 overall, and you can see how the rest of the model performed below.

Money Line Predictions: 0-2

Over/Under Predictions: 0-2

Spread Predictions: 0-2

Featured Matchup: 0-1

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Two NBA games are scheduled to take place today. Our model’s predictions for both matchups can be found below.

Miami Heat @ Philadelphia 76ers

Model Predicts- 76ers ML, OVER 207.5, Heat +5

The NBA’s Play-In Tournament will continue on Wednesday, with the next game featuring the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers as both teams fight for the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Miami enters tonight’s matchup off a regular season in which it won 46 games, including emerging victorious in seven of the final ten contests. Meanwhile, Philadelphia recorded just one additional victory when compared to Miami, winning 47 games in total and eight straight to close out the regular season.

Both Miami and Philadelphia come into the postseason red hot, but our model expects the 76ers to win tonight in a relatively high-scoring game. Let’s take a look at why that is.

Miami Heat

• Closed out regular season on two-game win streak

  • Both wins came against the Toronto Raptors. Posted a +37 point differential across those two contests

• Offense has seen massive boost over last six games

  • Own 114.9 Offensive Rating in that span

  • Have surpassed 114 points in five of last six games, while shooting 48.6% from the field

• Injuries- Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson are OUT, Duncan Robinson is questionable

Philadelphia 76ers

• Enter tonight on eight-game win streak

  • Bit of a weak schedule- only three teams played own record above .500

  • +91 point differential in that span

• Have been best team in month of April

  • Own +12.2 Net Rating- 1st in NBA

  • Weak schedule has been large factor to defensive success- 101.4 Defensive Rating this month, but faced four of league’s bottom-seven offenses

• Injuries- De’Anthony Melton and Robert Covington are OUT, Joel Embiid and KJ Martin are questionable

What’s the Play?

Backing the over in postseason games is sometimes a hard bet to make, but we agree with our model that both Miami and Philadelphia can find the bottom of the basket in bunches this evening.

Philadelphia’s defensive numbers in April don’t paint the full picture of what this defense is. As previously mentioned, the 76ers own a 101.4 Defensive Rating this month, but for the season that rating sits at 113.0. One big defensive weakness for Philly is in transition, where it surrendered the seventh-most fast break points per game this season, and that is an area that Miami exposed in their last meeting, scoring 24 points in transition.

Miami has proven it can get out on the break against Philadelphia, and that faster pace has led to higher-scoring games, with three of the four games in this season series seeing 213 points or more, even hitting 232 in one matchup. We expect that trend to continue here.

The Play: Over 207.5 (-110)

Money Line Trends 💰

• Philadelphia 76ers- 47-35 overall this season, 8-0 in last eight games

Over/Under Trends ⬆️⬇️

• Philadelphia 76ers- Over is 43-39 this season, 18-14 as a home favorite

• Miami Heat- Over is 9-1 in last ten games with average total of 220.7

Spread Trends ➕➖

• Miami Heat- 24-15-2 against the spread (ATS) as the away team this season

🥇 Kawhi Leonard earns final spot on USA Olympic team. Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers has been selected to join Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics, marking his debut at the senior level for USA Basketball after being cut from the teams for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 32-year-old, who is having his healthiest season since joining the Clippers, will join an Olympic squad reportedly composed of 11 other NBA players. Leonard's selection comes as he has surpassed 2,000 minutes played for the first time since the 2018-19 season, averaging 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in 68 games for Los Angeles this season.

💪 Lakers take down Pelicans to claim No. 7 seed. The Los Angeles Lakers narrowly defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 in the play-in tournament, earning a first-round matchup against the Denver Nuggets. Despite Zion Williamson's impressive 40-point performance for the Pelicans, LeBron James led the Lakers with 23 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. Although the Pelicans tied the game late, Williamson left due to a leg injury, and the Lakers held on to win despite being outscored in the paint and outrebounded.

Today’s trivia requires you to dig into multiple pockets of your brain, testing your knowledge of recent events as well as those that happened decades ago.

See how many of the below questions you can get correct. Answers are provided at the end of the newsletter.

Question #1- Who is the only athlete to win Olympic gold medals in both the 100 meter and 400 meter dash?

Question #2- The San Antonio Spurs swept what Eastern Conference team in the 2007 NBA Finals?

Question #3- What team did Christian Yelich play for from 2013-17 prior to his current stint with the Milwaukee Brewers?

Anyone know what has happened on April 17th throughout history? We didn’t have a clue either, but it appears that it has been a busy day.

On April 17th…

1987- Julius Erving becomes the third NBA (and ABA) player to score 30,000 career points. Erving reached the milestone by scoring 38 points in a 115-111 loss to the Indiana Pacers, enabling him to join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain in the 30,000 points club. 18,364 of Erving’s points were scored in the NBA, while 11,662 were scored in the ABA.

1999- University of Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch is selected with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. Couch was taken by the Cleveland Browns, a result of winning the SEC Player of the Year award and being named an All-American in 1998. He would play for the Browns until 2003, and his career ended after a brief stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2007.

2021- San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau plays in his 1,767th career game. Marleau’s appearance in this game set a new NHL record for games played in a career, passing the previous record held by Gordie Howe. Marleau would play 1,779 games in his career, which still stands as the most in NHL history.

1. Michael Johnson

2. Cleveland Cavaliers

3. Miami Marlins