New York Knicks vs. Toronto Raptors Prediction, NBA Odds
The suddenly struggling Toronto Raptors in theory play their biggest game this season thus far when they host the New York Knicks an NBA Cup quarterfinal on Tuesday night. The Knicks are 4.5-point favourites with a total of 230.5 on the NBA odds.
Knicks vs. Raptors NBA Betting Odds
The NBA schedule looks a little strange on both Tuesday and Wednesday with just two games each night as they are all NBA Cup games streaming in the USA on Prime Video. The league obviously wanted these to stand out from all other games for its new billion-dollar partner.
The Eastern Conference gets the spotlight Tuesday with Miami at Orlando in the first game and then New York-Toronto. The two winners will play Saturday in the semifinals in Las Vegas – the Magic are officially the East’s top seed. The losers don’t have their next game set yet and keep in mind that all NBA Cup games other than the final count toward the regular season.
The West games on Wednesday feature Phoenix at Oklahoma City and San Antonio at Los Angeles. To no surprise, the rampaging one-loss Thunder are -145 overall NBA Cup favourites and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the -120 leader for event MVP.
New York is a +600 second-favourite for the NBA Cup and Toronto +1600. These teams played once this season in a non-Cup game, a 116-94 Raptors loss at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 30. The Dinos have lost nine straight in the series (1-8 ATS) and four in a row at home.
New York Knicks
New York got back former Raptor OG Anunoby from a fairly long injury absence over the weekend but during Sunday’s third straight win, 106-100 over Orlando, Karl-Anthony Towns sat out with a calf problem and Miles McBride left injured. KAT participated in practice Monday so that bodes well, but McBride needed an MRI on his ankle so he probably misses a bit. The guard is averaging 11.6 points and a team-best 44.4 per cent from 3-point range usually off the bench but also as an occasional starter.
The Knicks likely lean more on Tyler Kolek during McBride’s absence. New York has not seemed to have everyone healthy at the same time this season much but has won seven of eight overall. It was the champion of East Group C with a 3-1 record in Cup play. The Knicks are the only team to reach the NBA Cup quarterfinals in all three seasons but not reached the finals yet. New York is 7-1 ATS in its past eight games.
Toronto Raptors
Maybe going back to NBA Cup play is just what this team needs as the Dinos won Group C at 4-0 and had a point differential of plus-55 that was second-best in the East in Cup games. But Toronto was outclassed Sunday, 121-113, at home by Boston for a third straight loss overall and fifth in the past six. Not having the injured RJ Barrett does not help, but injuries strike every NBA club.
About the only bright spot Sunday was the team rallying from down 23 to take a brief lead early in the fourth. But climbing out of that hole seemed to drain the Raptors. Scottie Barnes (18 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists) and Brandon Ingram (30 points) didn’t get much help from the starters. Ochai Agbaji recorded a season-high 11 points off the bench after missing the last two games due to personal reasons. The Celtics made 20 3-pointers, while the Raptors only attempted 22. Toronto is 0-7 ATS in its past seven.
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