Brooklyn Nets Vs. Toronto Raptors
1/15/13 Dan’s Free NBA Basketball Pick Against the Spread
The Brooklyn Nets go for their seventh straight win as they host the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.
Head to head, the home team is 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings. The Nets are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games vs. a team with a losing road record, but just 8-19-1 ATS in their last 28 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of less than .400. The Raptors on the other hand are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games following a double-digit loss at home, but just 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
It seems that the firing of Avery Johnson has done the trick for the time being as the Nets have won eight of nine and are currently the hottest team in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn, who has also won six on the trot, is getting the job done on the defensive end as they held the visiting Indiana Pacers to 11 fourth-quarter points in Sunday's 97-86 victory and are holding teams to 86.8 points over their last four games. The Nets are also getting great production from their bench as they are averaging 39.8 points per game during their winning streak, which was up from 27.7 before that.
The Toronto Raptors are coming off a disappointing 107-96 home defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, yet, they have actually been playing their best basketball of the season over the last month, winning 10 of a possible 14 games to improve to 14-21 after their horrible start. Even with their starting frontcourt injured, Toronto has gotten good production out of Ed Davis and Amir Johnson.
I really don’t mind this Raptors team and they seem to play hard most of the time, however, they have hardly travelled recently as seven of those 10 wins have come at home. Meanwhile, the Nets just seem to be a different team under P.J. Carlisemo and they have been blowing teams out as of late. Toronto has lost both meetings this season by seven and six points, respectively, but I just can’t go past the red hot Nets here…
Dan’s Pick: Brooklyn -7
