Golden State Warriors vs. Toronto Raptors Prediction, NBA Odds
The Toronto Raptors open March with one of their marquee home games of the season on Friday as they welcome future Hall of Famer Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State is a 3.5-point favourite to win on the NBA odds.
Warriors vs. Raptors NBA Betting Odds
Are the Warriors still NBA title contenders? Probably not and in fact the core group might be split up this offseason when Klay Thompson is set for free agency. After two serious injuries that cost him two full seasons – of course, Thompson was hurt first in the 2019 NBA Finals vs. Toronto – the 34-year-old is simply not close to what he used to be and in fact Steve Kerr recently decided to start bringing Thompson off the bench for the first time in his career. Thompson has been playing better since that move.
There had been some early season talk that this might be Kerr’s last season as well because he has been on the Golden State bench since 2014, but he recently got a two-year, $35 million (US) contract extension. That feels like the very small window for another title: Two more seasons while Steph Curry is still playing at an MVP level. Curry will be 36 in about two weeks, so the greatest three-point shooter in history is going to start slowing down at some point.
Toronto tries for the season sweep as it routed the Warriors 133-118 in San Francisco on Jan. 7 thanks to a 27-point halftime lead. The Dinos never trailed and shot 58.5 per cent from the field. RJ Barrett had his best game with the Dinos by hitting 13-for-20 from the field and 5-for-8 from deep on the way to 37 points along with six rebounds and six assists. Curry had one of the worst games of his career with nine points on 2-for-14 shooting and 0-for-9 from deep.
Golden State still leads the all-time series 32-21 and is 13-13 as the road team.
Golden State Warriors
Since losing at home to the Lakers on Jan. 27 in double OT to fall to 19-24, the Warriors have been a vastly different team and kept rolling Thursday with a 110-99 victory at the short-handed Knicks. Golden State opened the game on a 14-0 run, the longest scoring run ever for the Warriors since 1997-98, when play-by-play was first recorded.
Steph Curry always gets fired up to play at Madison Square Garden and had 31 points and 11 rebounds. Chris Paul, who returned from a long injury absence on Tuesday, had 11 points and six assists off the bench.
Toronto native Andrew Wiggins missed a second straight game due to personal reasons, has taken a leave of absence from the team and doesn’t have a clear return date. Wiggins was unavailable for the final 25 games of the regular season last year while also tending to a personal matter. Moses Moody started for him Thursday and had eight points and four rebounds in 26 minutes.
The Warriors enter on a seven-game road winning streak, their longest such run since 11 in a row from December 2018-February 2019. Since Jan. 30 overall, the Warriors lead the NBA in wins (12), rebounding (49.1 rpg), defensive rebounding (37.1 drpg) and assists (31.3 apg).
Toronto Raptors
This writer thought there was a decent chance that the Dallas Mavericks rested one of their two stars in Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving in the second of a back-to-back in Toronto on Wednesday after both played heavy minutes on Tuesday – but they both played and dominated in a 136-125 victory that ended the Dinos’ three-game winning streak out of the All-Star break. Doncic became the first player in NBA history to have a 30-point triple-double on his 25th birthday and Irving had 29 points.
Toronto’s defence took a major step back in allowing the Mavs to shoot 54.2 per cent. Scottie Barnes had 19 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double, a career-high streak. Barnes became the only player in franchise history to record 100 points, 50 rebounds and 40 assists over a five-game stretch.
Immanuel Quickley scored a season-high 28 points, and RJ Barrett had 26 points for the Raptors. Jakob Poeltl was in question with a sprained ankle but had 16 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes. The Raptors have scored at least 120 points in a franchise-record-tying five straight games.
Assistant coach Jama Mahlalela spent two years as an assistant on Steve Kerr’s staff, helping the Warriors win the 2022 NBA title. The Raptors are looking for their first two-game series sweep of Golden State since the 2018-19 campaign. Reserve forward Chris Boucher is questionable with an illness.
GS
TOR