Timberwolves vs 76ers Odds, Prediction, Pick (Wednesday, Dec. 20)

The white-hot Minnesota Timberwolves travel to Philly on Wednesday night for a meeting with the dispirited 76ers.

The Sixers dropped a home game to Chicago on Monday, which isn’t ideal for a team trying to climb the ranks in the Eastern Conference.

Despite the loss, Philly is still third in the East, only two games behind Boston.

Unfortunately, Wednesday night’s game is no gimme, as the T-Wolves have won 17 of their 21 games this year, leading the West. They’ve won three straight entering Wednesday.

I’m unsure who wins this battle, but I’m betting it’ll be a low-scoring affair between two stifling defenses.

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(7 p.m. ET, NBA TV)

These are two top-five defenses. Per Dunks and Threes, the ‘Wolves rank first in the NBA in adjusted defensive rating, while the Sixers rank fourth.

I like these defenses even more when you consider the matchup.

Philly lives at the rim, ranking eighth in the NBA in percentage of shots taken at the rim (35%), likely because the Sixers play through reigning MVP big man Joel Embiid.

Unfortunately, Minnesota’s monstrous interior duo of Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns deny interior buckets better than almost any NBA team. The ‘Wolves rank second in the league in percentage of shots allowed at the rim (28%) and fifth in at-the-rim field goal percentage allowed (63%).

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves like to score in the mid-range, as Towns is excellent from the short-mid area, and Anthony Edwards is an elite pull-up shooter.

But the Sixers are the third-best team in mid-range defense, allowing only 39% shooting from that area. They know how to defend that area of the court.

There’s plenty of size across both rosters, which substantially plays into each squad’s defensive identities. Both teams stand 7-foot on the interior and 6-foot-8 on the wings, so it’s hard for opposing offenses to generate easy interior buckets.

I suspect that’ll be the case on Wednesday night, as the Sixers won’t be able to score at the rim, and the ‘Wolves won’t be able to pull up in the mid-range.

This could turn into a rock fight.

That’s what happened the last two times these squads matched up, with these two staying Under the closing total each time, including Under 221 earlier this regular season (112-99 Timberwolves win).

So, I’ll bet the Minnesota vs Philadelphia Under one more time, this time at 225.

1. Under 225 (-105) at Caesars | Play to 221 (-110)

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