New York Knicks vs. Toronto Raptors Prediction, NBA Odds
The NBA Cup knockout stage is taking place this week, so the NBA needed to keep their schedule flexible and that is why Raptors vs. Knicks is the only game on Monday night. Both teams are coming off home losses on Saturday, with Toronto falling 125-118 against the Mavericks and New York losing 120-111 against the Pistons.
The Knicks are 6.5-point favourites to win on the NBA odds, with the total set at 232.5.
Knicks vs. Raptors NBA Betting Odds
The Knicks had Toronto’s number last year, sweeping the four-game season series. The Dinos never really put up a fight, with New York winning those games by an average score of 22 points, including an embarrassing 145-101 rout in Toronto at the end of March.
At this point, any game at Scotiabank Arena is a blessing for Toronto. The Raptors have the worst road record in the NBA at 1-11, while they are an even 6-6 at home. Unfortunately, they are facing a Knicks team that has won and covered in four of their last five games against Toronto.
And when it comes to covering, the Raptors have been the better option for bettors this season. Toronto is 16-8 against the spread, while New York is 11-11-1 ATS. The Dinos have covered in eight of their last 11 games overall.
These teams tend to play higher scoring games, with the Over hitting in seven of the last eight head-to-heads. For the season, the Knicks have hit the Over in 14 of 23 games, while the Raptors have evenly split the Over/Under.
New York Knicks
Jalen Brunson’s game-high 31-point performance wasn’t enough for New York against Detroit. Brunson has teamed up with Karl-Anthony Towns to form one of the most dangerous duos in the NBA. Brunson averages a team-high 25.4 points per game and leads the team with 7.7 assists. Towns is second on the Knicks with 25.2 ppg and he is second in the NBA with 13.2 rebounds.
Keep an eye on the status of Towns as he was held out of Saturday’s game with knee soreness and he’s listed as questionable on Monday. Regardless if Towns plays, New York still boasts one of the best offensive attacks in the NBA. The Knicks are averaging 118.0 ppg (seventh in NBA) while shooting 50 per cent from the field (2nd) and 39.8 per cent from beyond the arc (2nd).
Toronto Raptors
While the Raptors have been disappointing this season, they haven’t been surprising as management made it clear they are tanking in hopes of picking up a future star in the upcoming NBA draft, which is expected to be deep. Second-year guard Gradey Dick is one of the players Toronto is building around and he had another strong performance on Saturday, scoring a team-high 27 points. Jakob Poeltl put up 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while Scottie Barnes had 19 points, eight boards and 14 dimes.
Turnovers have been a major issue for the Raptors this season. Toronto is averaging 15.9 turnovers per game, the fifth-worst mark in the NBA. You just have to look at Saturday to see how turnovers have directly impacted games. The Raptors turned the ball over 13 times against Dallas, leading to 24 points for the Mavericks.
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