Philadelphia 76ers 2020 Restart Preview - NBA Odds, Picks & Betting Predictions

When the 2019-20 NBA regular season was suspended on March 12, the Philadelphia 76ers were in third place in the Atlantic division and sixth place in the Eastern Conference with an overall record of 39-26. The 76ers are actually tied with the Indiana Pacers but Indiana holds the head-to-head tiebreaker if the playoffs were to begin today. Prior to the break, the 76ers had lost 5 of their last 10 and injuries to Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons had created problems for Philadelphia.

Through 65 games of the regular season, Joel Embiid is the leading scorer and rebounder for Philadelphia with averages of 23.4 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. The second leading scorer is Tobias Harris with an average of 19.4 points per game. Ben Simmons is the third leading scorer and the leader in assists for the 76ers with averages of 16.7 points and 8.2 assists per game. 

The Philadelphia 76ers had the best home record in the NBA at 29-2 before the season was suspended but on the road Philadelphia suffered greatly at just 10-24. However, because of the four-plus months this season will be suspended before play restarts July 31, the 76ers have had plenty of time to recover from injuries especially those to Embiid and Simmons. Furkan Korkmaz has been a very pleasant surprise for the 76ers as he has become the club's three-point threat hitting 43.4% of his shots from downtown.  Tobias Harris has also picked up the slack when Embiid has been sidelined due to injuries.

Al Horford was signed during free agency by the 76ers and Philadelphia had high expectations for the vetrean center/forward, but Horford has been a disappointment through the first 60-plus games of the regular season. However, expect Horford to bounce back with strong play over the final regular-season games and into the postseason. The 76ers will need Horford's defense in the paint and protection around the rim if they want to make a deep run in an attempt to win the Eastern Conference and reach the NBA finals.

The Philadelphia 76ers could be a dark horse when entering the NBA postseason after having a somewhat mediocre season prior to the covid-19 outbreak. However, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are fully recovered from injuries and Tobias Harris has played exceptionally well, while Al Horford is expected to return to form after having a poor start to his career with the 76ers and Josh Richardson rounds out a Philadelphia starting five that is hard to match up against.