Heat vs. Raptors: NBA Picks, Odds and Prediction

It’s the second playoff rematch of the young season for the Toronto Raptors on Friday night as the new-look Miami Heat visit Air Canada Centre. Of course the Raptors reached their first Eastern Conference Finals last season by knocking out Miami in Game 7 of the conference semifinals, 116-89, behind 35 points from Kyle Lowry and 28 from DeMar DeRozan. Toronto is favoured for Friday’s game on Sports Interaction NBA odds.

Miami Heat vs. Toronto Raptors
Friday, Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m. ET
Spread: Raptors -8.5
Total: 197

Miami Heat

The Heat’s playoff loss to Toronto was the end of an era for the Miami franchise. Surprisingly, it turned out to be the final game of future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade’s career with the team. He hit free agency this summer, but it was completely unexpected that arguably the most popular athlete in south Florida history would leave. However, Wade felt he was low-balled financially by the Heat and he chose to sign with his hometown Chicago Bulls.

Miami team president Pat Riley also has said that former Raptors star Chris Bosh likely will never play with the team again. Bosh has been dealing to blood-clotting issues that cut his past two seasons short. Because of the dangers of letting Bosh play, his career is probably over — he still wants to play, but no NBA team wants that liability issue. The Heat would get major salary-cap relief from Bosh’s salary in February 2017 if he doesn’t suit up. If Bosh were to sign with another team and played 10 games, the Heat would be responsible for his big salary again. That’s why the team hasn’t released him. Bosh, an 11-time All-Star, has averaged 19.1 points and 7.4 rebounds in his career.

This is expected to be a rebuilding season for the Heat, with the team also reportedly eyeing a trade of point guard Goran Dragic to clear more salary and be a major player in free agency next summer. Miami is off to a 2-2 start following a 108-96 overtime home win over Sacramento on Tuesday. Dragic had 25 points and Tyler Johnson 22. Hassan Whiteside had his fourth straight double-double of the early season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. He was re-signed to a big extension this offseason, which played a role in the whole Wade scenario. The club also signed former Thunder guard Dion Waiters to help replace Wade.

Dragic leads the Heat in scoring (20.0 ppg) and assists (7.0 apg), while Whiteside is averaging 19.8 points, 13.8 rebounds (first in NBA) and 3.0 blocks (tied first in NBA). No Heat player has ever started a season with five double-doubles in a row as Whiteside can Friday.

Toronto Raptors

The Raptors (3-1) played their first road game of the season Wednesday and won at the Washington Wizards, 113-103. Despite having to leave the game briefly to deal with a minor ankle issue, DeRozan continued his red-hot start with 40 points on 14-for-23 shooting. It was his fourth straight game with at least 30, tying Mike James’ 2005 team record. Entering Thursday, DeRozan was second in the NBA in scoring at 36.3 points per game. The Raptors have never had an NBA scoring champion. This will be DeRozan’s 526th game played with Toronto, which will move him into solo second place all-time behind Morris Peterson’s 542. DeRozan is currently second in all-time minutes played with the team behind Bosh (18,815).

Lowry took an elbow to the face from Washington’s Marcin Gortat in the first quarter that required three stitches, but Lowry returned to the game in the second and finished with 18 points. One very positive sign was the play of the bench, which entered the Wizards game scoring an NBA-low 18.0 points per game. That group totalled 34 points, led by Terrence Ross’ 15.

Toronto lost the first regular-season meeting against Miami last season but won the final three, all by at least eight points. DeRozan averaged 29.3 points in the four games. Lowry was at 16.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists. Jonas Valanciunas, who will have an intriguing matchup vs. Whiteside, averaged 15.3 points and 9.3 rebounds. Bosh played in three of the games and averaged 20.0 points. Wade put up 18.3 points per game in his three. The playoff series was largely a defensive battle, with the losing team scoring 96 points or fewer in each defeat. Only three times did the winning side reach triple digits.

Heat vs. Raptors Prediction

Toronto failed its playoff rematch vs. Cleveland last week but will win and cover against Miami. The Heat are just 2-5 ATS in their past seven in Toronto. Go over that total as it’s 4-1 in the past five regular-season meetings at Air Canada Centre.