Raptors vs. Knicks Prediction: NBA Odds, Point Spread
The Knicks are favoured on the NBA odds.
NBA Point Spread and Betting Analysis
While the award is more likely to go to Utah’s Quin Snyder or Phoenix’s Monty Williams, the Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau has done a fabulous job this year and will get some Coach of the Year Award votes. The Knicks are going to be playoff-bound for the first time since 2013 – which is also the last time they finished with anything close to a winning record.
At this point, it’s just a matter of how high up the Knicks can get. Reasonably speaking, they probably can’t get higher than fourth in the East, which would earn home-court advantage in the first round. The key is for New York not to finish lower than sixth because that would mean a spot in the play-in tournament.
The Raptors and Knicks have split two low-scoring games – not a surprise as New York leads the NBA in scoring defence – with each winning at home. They just played at Madison Square Garden on April 11 and the Knicks won 102-96 despite blowing an 18-point third-quarter lead. All-Star Julius Randle had 26 points and eight rebounds, while Toronto native RJ Barrett had 19 points and five assists. New York had lost nine straight in the series. Gary Trent Jr. had 23 points, and Chris Boucher added 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Raptors. Neither Fred VanVleet nor OG Anunoby played.
The Raptors are 8-2 in their past 10 road games in the series and 4-6 against the spread.
Toronto Raptors
Toronto tied a season high with a fourth straight win Wednesday, 114-103 over Brooklyn – it certainly helped that the Nets were in the second of a back-to-back and missing several players, including Kevin Durant and James Harden. It was the first time in weeks that the Dinos had Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby in the same game due to injury/rest/protocols. Siakam had 27 points and nine rebounds, and Anunoby scored 25 points.
Khem Birch got the start at centre and was very solid with eight points, seven rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes. The Canadian may need to play much heavier minutes going forward as Chris Boucher went down with a knee injury in the fourth quarter and is going to miss time (how much was TBA as of this writing). Boucher, also from Montreal, was having his best season, averaging 13.8 points and 6.7 rebounds.
New York Knicks
No team in the NBA is playing better than the Knicks as they won an eighth straight game Wednesday, their longest run since 2014, by a score of 137-127 in overtime over the visiting Atlanta Hawks. New York outscored Atlanta by seven in the fourth to force OT and then scored the first 10 points of the extra session. Julius Randle was a monster with 40 points and 10 rebounds and is the fifth player in franchise history to average at least 30 points during a winning streak of at least eight games. RJ Barrett continued his fine season with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Two key reserves may not be available on Saturday for New York. Guard Alec Burks has missed four in a row in the protocols and forward/centre Taj Gibson is in question after suffering an eyelid injury against the Hawks.G
TOR
NY