Joel Embiid Set to Dominate Wizards in Game 1

Joel Embiid has dominated the Washington Wizards this season, and he’ll look to continue that success in Game 1 of the opening round of the NBA playoffs today.

Embiid, who torched the Wizards by scoring 38 points against them earlier this season, has his point total set at 32.5 at WynnBET ahead of their meeting today. The over (-112) is the slight favorite to the under (-110).

The Philadelphia 76ers are also set as sizable 7.5-point favorites over the Wizards, who had to get by the Pacers in a play-in game last week to secure the eight seed in the Eastern Conference.

Embiid averaged 33.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in his first two games against Washington this season. His third outing against the Wiz was cut short due to an injury, but he was still able to put up 23 points and seven rebounds despite playing for only 20 minutes and 24 seconds.

The 76ers went on a run to close out the regular season, going 10-2 in their last 12 games. Embiid, who saw at least some minutes in 10 of those 12 games, averaged 22.2 points during that stretch including three games where he scored over 30.

Only three No. 8 seeds have upset the No. 1 seed in the first round since the NBA changed it to a best-of-seven series, and WynnBET certainly isn’t expecting a fourth case of it happening this year. The 76ers are set as -1100 favorites to knock off the Wizards (+475). -1100 is an implied probability of 91.67%, which means Vegas is giving Washington less than a 10% chance of pull off the series up.

If you want to bet on Embiid to dominate the boards instead, his rebounding total is set at 11.5 with the over set as the -130 favorite and the under coming back at +100 odds.

Win or lose, expect Embiid to put on a show in Game 1.