The Toronto Raptors host Boston Celtics in a potential eastern conference final preview. The two teams are anticipated to be top 2 of the conference and they’ve both gotten off to a winning start this season. It’s a matchup that every NBA fan will be anticipating and we can expect a very interesting game here as both teams will look to gain an edge over the other.
Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors started off with a win over the Cavs 116-104 at home to being their season and both Lowry and Kawhi already looked in mid season form having combined for 51 points with Lowry putting up 27 on 12 shots and Kawhi getting 24 pts 13 Rebs in his debut. Toronto have a relatively healthy squad bar Deleon Wright who is questionable and OG Anunoby who is probable with an eye injury he suffered in the opener. Otherwise the rest of the squad is healthy and all the other key players will play.
Predicted Starting line-up – K.Lowry, D.Green, K.Leonard, P.Siakam, J.Valanciunas
Injuries – D.Wright – Questionable, OG Anunoby – Probable
Boston Celtics
Boston started their season with a dominant win over Philadelphia despite Kyrie and Hayward shooting just 6/26 combined for 17 points. A player that stood out was Jayson Tatum with 23 pts 9 Rebs as he has carried over his success from the playoffs into this season. Tatum is expected to be Boston’s top scoring guy at least for now until Kyrie shakes off the rust. Injury wise, Boston have a fully healthy squad therefore Brad Stevens will be able to use his normal rotation.
Predicted Starting line-up - K.Irving, J.Brown, G.Hayward, J.Tatum, A.Horford
Injuries – None
Key Facts
Toronto Raptors have beaten Boston at home for 6 straight games.
Raptors had the tied best record at home last year at 34-7.
Both of these teams are some of the top defensive squads. Toronto were 5th while Boston were 2nd in DEF RTG last season and that is expected to get even better for both squads this season.
Toronto have one of the most efficient offences as they were 2nd in OFF RTG last year and with the addition of Kawhi that offence could get even better. Boston were just 18th in OFF RTG last year.
Boston and Toronto went 2-2 in H2H last season with home team winning every game. On average there were 193.5 pts scored in 4 games between these squads with Toronto putting up 100 pts and Boston 93.5 pts per game in H2H.
Boston went 28-13 on the road last year which was 3rd best in the NBA.
Kyrie Irving only averages 19 ppg against Toronto in regular season for his career which is 3 less than his career average.
Betting Tips and Predictions
This game is tough to predict and this is where home court will come into play. Both squads are deep, strong defensively and have scorers, no wonder why they’re considered as top 2 in the West. In this game well back a Raptors -2.5 handicap. Despite Boston being the east favourites, winning in Toronto is extremely hard and now that we’ve seen how Kawhi and Lowry mesh together this team looks scary. Boston’s Kyrie and Hayward are still looking rusty and that’s why it’ll be a bit tougher for them to play on the road. Under 208.5 points is worth the look. These teams are both top 5 in defence and we saw last year just how low scoring games can get between these squads. Expect a playoff atmosphere and that’s why it’ll be an under. Tatum over 14.5 pts is worth the look considering how well he’s playing but despite that we expect Toronto to win by about 5-7 points.
Match Odds (TonyBet)
Toronto Raptors Win – 1.68 (Regular Time – 1.74)
Boston Celtics Win – 2.30 (Regular Time – 2.41)
Overtime – 13.00
Match Start – 20th October 2018 – 1am UK Time
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