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NBA: Toronto Raptors vs Portland Trail-Blazers Betting Preview



2nd seed in the East Toronto Raptors host 4th seed in the West Portland Trail-Blazers in a meeting between two of the hottest teams in the NBA right now.


Toronto Raptors


Toronto are currently still the 2nd seed in the East and are still within striking distance of Milwaukee at 2.5 games behind. Toronto are currently playing some great basketball having won 8 of their last 9 and are currently coming off a huge win against the Boston Celtics beating them down 118-95 on Tuesday. One of the key reasons why Toronto have returned to playing their best basketball has been improved defense, they’ve been 4th in DEF RTG during that stretch. Toronto have also gotten healthy finally, other than VanVleet, everyone have been available for the most part and the new acquisitions like Marc Gasol and Jeremy Lin have fit in well in the team. Toronto have been especially dominant at home, they have the 3rd best home record in the NBA at 26-6, they’ve won 16 of their last 18 in Toronto which is enough proof to say that they’re very tough in front of their fans. Player news wise, Fred VanVleet is the only expected player to be out.


Injury Report


Fred VanVleet – OUT


 


Portland Trail-Blazers


Portland are entering this game on a REALLY good run of form having won 5 straight, currently 4-0 on their East coast road trip. Portland haven’t been just winning, they’ve been playing fantastic and have been beating some elite teams like Golden State, Boston, Philadelphia, also grabbed wins against playoff seeded Brooklyn and the Cavs who have looked improved too and Portland have had the 1st best OFF RTG and 3rd best DEF RTG in the NBA during this 5 game stretch so it’s safe to say Portland are currently very red hot. Improved depth, star backcourt in Lillard and McCollum and the blossoming of Jusuf Nurkic have all be major factors in a successful season for Portland. Blazers could go up to 3rd seed if they were to beat Toronto, currently tied with OKC with a 38-23 record.


This is definitely Portland’s best team since Damian Lillard took over as the best player and they for sure cannot be slept on anymore. Entering this game, Portland will miss to Kanter due to personal reasons and Evan Turner which lessens their depth, so they will likely need Dame, CJ and Nurkic to put together big games for them to come away with a big win. Portland did beat Toronto in the first meeting in front of their own fans 128-122, but in a different environment it’ll be much, much tougher.


Injury Report


Enes Kanter – OUT


Evan Turner – OUT


Betting Stats


Totals


Raptors are dead in the middle when it comes to covering over/under at 50% (16-16) this season at Home. Total for Friday’s game is 227.5 points and Toronto have had that total once before at home against Brooklyn and it resulted with an over in a 127-125 win. Raptors also had a 226.5 total twice against 76ers which was an over in a 129-112 and Celtics which was an under in a 118-95 win.


Portland this season have covered 46.4% of their total point overs on the road (13-1-14). They’ve had a 227.5 point total in Golden State which resulted with an under in a 110-109 win, they’ve also had a 227.0 point total twice against Sacramento which was also an under in a 115-107 loss and against Oklahoma which resulted in an Over in a 123-114 loss.


 


Handicaps


Despite their solid W-L home record, Toronto haven’t been that good at covering Handicaps at just 46.9% (15-17). Raptors are tipped 5 point favourites against Portland and they’ve had a -5 Handicap once before against Milwaukee which they didn’t cover losing the game 99-104. They had a -4.5 Handicap twice against Indiana and Boston covering it against Boston in a 118-95 win and failing to cover it against Indiana in a 99-96 win.


Portland haven’t been to good at covering road Handicaps either at 46.4% (13-15), although they’ve covered 4 in a row in this current road trip. Blazers have had a +5 Handicap once before on the road against Oklahoma and they failed to cover it losing 120-111. They’ve had a +5.5 against Utah and they covered that in a 109-104 win.


Recent H2H in Toronto


Raptors have been good at protecting home court against the Blazers lately having won 3 straight at home against Portland.


Most recently, Raptors stomped the Blazers 130-105 on their home court. Raptors covered a -4.5 Handicap and total 215.0 points resulted with an over in that match up. That match up was last season and a lot has changed since however.


 


TIP OFF – 2nd March 2019 – 1am UK Time

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