Toronto Raptors (23-23) vs. Miami Heat (32-17)
January 29, 2022 8:00 pm EDT
The Line: Miami Heat -5.5; Over/Under: -207.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Toronto Raptors and the Miami Heat duke it out at the FTX Arena on Saturday night.
The Toronto Raptors have been in a real slump as they’ve lost six of their past nine games overall and they will be hoping to bounce back after falling short to the Bulls in a 111-105 road loss on Wednesday. Gary Trent Jr. led the team with 32 points on 11 of 22 shooting, OG Anunoby added 23 points on 10 of 15 shooting while Scottie Barnes chipped in with 16 points and seven assists. As a team, the Raptors shot 48 percent from the field and 12 of 31 from the 3-point line as they clawed their way back from an early 19-point deficit to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, only to allow the Bulls to close the final 3:10 on a 9-2 run to snatch the game from them late.
Meanwhile, the Miami Heat have been stellar form as they’ve won nine of their past 11 games and they will be gunning for a fourth straight victory after last night’s 121-114 home win over the Clippers. Jimmy Butler led the team with 26 points and nine assists, Gabe Vincent drained seven 3-pointers on his way to 23 points while Bam Adebayo tallied 20 points with 12 rebounds and four assists. As a team, the Heat shot 47 percent from the field and 15 of 34 from the 3-point line as they set the tone with their defense by holding the Clippers to just 19 points in the first quarter to take a 12-point lead into halftime, before pouring in 39 points in the third quarter to push the lead out to 23 points.
Looking at the betting trends, the Raptors are 16-5 ATS in their last 21 games against a team with a winning record, 6-2 ATS in their last eight games as an underdog and 15-6 ATS in their last 21 games overall. The Heat are 4-1 ATS in their last five home games, 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games playing on zero days’ rest and 9-3 ATS in their last 12 games overall.
Head to head, the under is 5-1 in the last six meetings overall, the Raptors are 4-11 ATS in the last 15 meetings overall and the Raptors are 3-8 ATS in the last 11 meetings in Miami.
The Raptors will again be without David Johnson, Khem Birch and Goran Dragic while Fred VanVleet is listed as questionable. The Heat will be missing Kyle Lowry, Markieff Morris and KZ Okpala once again. These two teams last met on Jan 17 and it was the Heat who won by 104-99 behind 23 points from Herro. The Raptors have continued to falter since that loss while the Heat have gone from strength to strength despite being plagued by injuries. I’m expecting another close contest and a similar result as I have the Heat being too good at home once again.
