Toronto Raptors vs. New York Knicks Prediction, NBA Odds
Toronto’s dismal season continued at home on Sunday with a 114-110 loss against the Houston Rockets. Mired in a seven-game losing skid, the Dinos now sit second-last in the Eastern Conference with a 7-22 record.
It’s a different story for the Knicks, who won their third in a row in New Orleans on Saturday, 104-93. At 18-10, New York sits third in the Eastern Conference, a game up on Orlando and four games back of Boston.
The Knicks are heavy 14.5-point favourites to win on the NBA odds, with the total pegged at 226.5.
Raptors vs. Knicks NBA Betting Odds
These teams have trended in opposite directions over the last few years, so it’s unsurprising to see how lopsided this head-to-head series has been. New York has won the last five matchups, including a 113-108 decision in Toronto on December 9. It came down to the wire, with Karl-Anthony Towns breaking a late tie with under a minute to play.
The road hasn’t been kind to the Raptors this season. In fact, Toronto is the worst road team in the NBA, with just one win in 13 away dates. That doesn’t bode well against a red-hot Knicks team that has won eight of their last 10 games overall.
One thing the Dinos do excel at, is covering. The Raptors are 19-9-1 against the spread this season, the third-best cover rate in the NBA. New York, on the other hand, is 14-13-1 ATS overall, including 6-5-1 ATS at home.
Both teams have split the Over/Under fairly evenly this year, but there’s reason to believe this could be a higher scoring game. The Over has hit in seven of the last nine head-to-heads overall and five of the last seven played in New York.
Toronto Raptors
Toronto jumped out to an early 16-point lead against Houston, but growing pains remain with this young squad as the Dinos couldn’t hold on. It was a couple of rookies who lead the way for the Raptors. Ja’Kobe Walter scored a career-high 27 points and Jamal Shead finished with his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 assists. Leading scorer RJ Barrett (23.5 points per game) was scratched roughly 45 minutes before tip-off, missing his second straight game with an illness. Barrett’s status isn’t known ahead of his return to New York, where he spent the first four and a half seasons of his career.
Get used to growing pains with this roster as they have used their youngest lineup ever over the last two games in the absence of Barrett. The starting five of Walter, Scottie Barnes, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji, Jonathan Mogbo has managed to jump out to early leads, before fading down the stretch.
New York Knicks
Jalen Brunson had himself a game on Saturday, finishing with a season-high 39 points. Brunson was particularly effective in the latter stages of the game, scoring 29 points in the second half, including 16 in the third quarter. The Knicks also received 18 points from Mikal Bridges and 16 from former Raptor OG Anunoby. Towns was limited to 11 points, but he finished with a double-double after adding 10 rebounds.
New York boosted their bench on Sunday with the signing of Landry Shamet, who was a lock to make the final roster this season before separating his shoulder in the pre-season. Shamet chose rehab rather than surgery and earned the promotion back to the NBA after playing three games in the G-League. The Knicks are desperate to improve their bench, which ranks last in minutes and points this season.
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