Rockets vs. 76ers NBA injury report, odds, spread: Joel Embiid expected to play; Victor Oladipo, Eric Gordon doubtful, Shake Milton out Wednesday

The first of an ESPN NBA doubleheader on Wednesday features the Houston Rockets at the Philadelphia 76ers with a 7:30 p.m. ET tipoff. Philadelphia returns from a West Coast trip and is listing center and MVP candidate Joel Embiid as probable, while key reserve and occasional starter Shake Milton is out again. Houston is listing guard Victor Oladipo and Eric Gordon as doubtful and PJ Tucker as questionable. The Sixers opened as 11.5-point favorites on the William Hill Sportsbook NBA odds.

We projected that Embiid was going to miss Monday's game in Utah when he was listed initially as questionable with some back tightness; our thinking that it was safer to sit him at the end of a West Coast trip and rest for an additional 48 hours. While Embiid originally was listed as active vs. the Jazz, he was then quickly scratched.

The 76ers fell to 1-5 without him this season in losing 134-123 – their third straight defeat. Then again, Utah is beating everyone these days. Philly is 14-2 straight up this season with its preferred starting five of Embiid, Ben Simmons (career-high 42 points vs. the Jazz), Tobias Harris (season-high 36 points Monday), Seth Curry and Danny Green. Milton (14.0 ppg), meanwhile, hasn't played since Feb. 9 with an ankle sprain.

As soon as the Rockets ruled out Oladipo, Gordon and Tucker on Monday night in Washington (joining starting center Christian Wood, who is out longer term), we jumped on the Wizards at -2 and they beat Houston 131-119 – the Rockets' sixth straight loss. It snapped Tucker's streak of 267 consecutive games played, which was by far the league's longest active.

In addition, power forward Ray Spalding suffered an Achilles tendon injury in just his second game with Houston this year. Spalding had played with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers — Houston's NBA G League affiliate — for parts of the last two seasons. Spalding was summarily waived Tuesday.

The Rockets and 76ers split two games last season, with both technically as Houston home matchups with one in the Orlando bubble.  Houston is 2-3 in the past five meetings after winning eight straight in the series. Philadelphia is 7-1 against the spread in the past eight home meetings. 

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times, and it returned over $5,000 in profit on its top-rated NBA picks last season. The model is also up more than $8,400 on top-rated NBA picks over the past two-plus seasons. Dating back to last season, it enters Week 9 of the 2020-21 NBA schedule on a stunning 83-48 roll on top-rated NBA picks against the spread. Anybody who has followed it has seen HUGE returns.