The Brooklyn Nets travel to the Scotiabank Arena to take on the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.
The Brooklyn Nets have been slowly improving as they’ve won six of their last 10 games overall, but they will be looking to bounce back here after having their two-game win streak snapped by the 76ers in a 115-106 road loss last night. Kyrie Irving led the team with 23 points, Kevin Durant added 20 points with five assists on nine of 14 shooting while Seth Curry chipped in with 14 points off the bench. As a team, the Nets shot a healthy 55 percent from the field and nine of 28 from the 3-point line but they couldn’t make a single 3-pointer early on and had to claw back from an early deficit, only to fade away in the fourth quarter where the 76ers finished with a flurry. The Nets’ lack of size really cost them as they got outrebounded on the offensive boards by 20-4 and they just couldn’t make the open 3-pointers when employing their small-ball lineups.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Raptors have been in decent form as they’ve split their last eight games and they will be hoping to bounce back here after having their two-game win streak halted by the Hawks in a 124-122 overtime road loss on Saturday. Scottie Barnes led the team with 28 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, OG Anunoby added 27 points with five assists while Thaddeus Young tallied 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals. As a team, the Raptors shot 44 percent from the field and eight of 37 from the 3-point line as they squandered a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter, before coming up just short in the overtime period as the Hawks’ AJ Griffin made the game-winning alley oop layup at the buzzer.
Looking at the betting trends, the Nets are 0-3-1 ATS in their last four games playing on zero days’ rest, 5-1 ATS in their last six games against a team with a winning record and 6-2-1 ATS in their last nine games overall. The Raptors are 5-2 ATS in their last seven home games, 0-5 ATS in their last five games against a team with a losing record and 2-5 ATS in their last seven games overall.
Head to head, the under is 4-1 in the last five meetings in Toronto and the Nets are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings in Toronto.
The Nets are keeping an eye on Yuta Watanabe who is listed as day to day, while the Raptors have listed Scottie Barnes as day to day with a left knee sprain. The Nets will be eager to get the bitter taste of last night’s defeat out of their mouths, but they are playing their second game of a back to back set, while the Raptors should be well-rested as they haven’t played since their thrilling overtime win back on Saturday. The Nets are 0-3-1 ATS in their last four games playing on zero days rest while the Raptors are 5-2 ATS in their last seven home games, so I’ll back the Raptors in this spot.
