The Nets have defended Embiid well and have subsequently limited him to 23 PPG through the first two games of the series. They are constantly doubling and even tripling Embiid, with a smaller athletic defender fronting him to deny him the ball, and then having an additional defender collapse on him. Embiid and the 76ers have realized that Tyrese Maxey has the athleticism/speed/ball handling to perfectly counter the Nets smothering Embiid. Maxey scored 33 points in game 2 and I think he will continue to give the Nets fits and has another 20+ point performance in game 3 tonight.

Everyone wants his points prop after Game 2. Tyrese Maxey took advantage of the weak outside coverage, proving the Nets have more on their hands than just Joel Embiid. Maxey finished the night with 33 points and zero assists. But prior to Game 2, he has hit three or more assists in all their matchups against the Nets this season. Our sims have him projected at 3.8 assists. Philly will be looking for Harden to finally hit his stride tonight, I like the idea of Maxey's assists being on the other side.

SportslineAI has the Philadelphia 76ers winning by 8. The Brooklyn Nets don't have an answer for Joel Embiid. The only player they have who can guard him 1 on 1 is Nic Claxton, otherwise they are forced to double team him. Embiid is a willing passer and his teammates are getting wide open shots because of it. The 76ers had 19 turnovers and still won the game by 12. Hear the full breakdown on Early Edge in 5 at 4pm ET.

The 76ers are just a terrible matchup for the Nets. The Nets have very little size up front outside of Nic Claxton, and they tried to play small even more in Game 2 after losing Game 1 by 20 points. Still, they fell by 12 points. The 76ers are 12-8 ATS as a road favorite, while the Nets are 5-8 ATS as a home underdog. I think the 76ers cover again and eventually sweep this series.

Brooklyn's previous four games went Over before the surprisingly low-scoring affair in Game 2. Expect a game more like what we saw in Game 1, with both teams into triple-digits as the Sixers try to assert their dominance and the Nets scramble to keep pace. The Over is hitting in 73% of my model's simulations.

Johnson had a big performance in Game 2, scoring 28 points over 41 minutes. He shot 11-for-19 from the field, including 5-for-11 from behind the arc. He has scored at least 18 points in both games of this series, despite playing just 27 minutes in a blowout loss in Game 1. In what should be a closer game in Brooklyn, look for Johnson to have another productive evening in the scoring column.

James Harden averaged 21 points in the regular season, but in the first two playoff games in Philadelphia, he averaged 15.5 despite playing 36 and 38 minutes. He did not shoot a single free throw. To go over 19.5 points Thursday, Harden will need to be on fire from deep (like he was in Game 1 when he made 7 of 13 3-pointers). I'll bet against that happening again for the 33-year-old. Over his last 13 games, he's stayed Under this number nine times.