Guess how many months it\u2019s been since the Toronto Raptors have been two games above .500? <\/p>\n
Thirty-six months. <\/p>\n
Since November 28th, 2022, the Raptors have been mired in mediocrity.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a lot of suffering for the fanbase. <\/p>\n
But as true day one fans know, championship teams aren\u2019t built overnight. <\/p>\n
Fast forward to today and we have a Toronto team that has won six of their last seven games.<\/p>\n
The vibes are as positive as they can be coming off a statement win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team with the highest projected win total in the East. <\/p>\n
On the final stop of their five-game road trip, Toronto gets a floundering Indiana Pacers team that\u2019s begun the season 1-11. <\/p>\n
The Raptors have shown some killer instinct of late, and this Same Game Parlay below incorporates three legs that align with a potential blowout victory. <\/p>\n
All three selections together currently pays +288 on FanDuel.<\/p>\n
Scottie Barnes 7+ rebounds<\/p>\n
Barnes can be a roller coaster ride week-to-week, but when the waves are high, All-NBA upside is easy to see. <\/p>\n
During this seven-game stretch, his two-way play has been on full display with a balanced stat line. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s averaged 18.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 2.6 blocks per game. <\/p>\n
No other player in the league shares a stat line with the same floor as him. <\/p>\n
When Scottie\u2019s engaged, the Raptors stay winning. <\/p>\n
In seven wins this year, he\u2019s averaged 8.9 rebounds. <\/p>\n
In their five losses, that number drops to 5.8. <\/p>\n
Up against Indiana – the only NBA team to collectively shoot below 40 per cent from the field – Barnes will have plenty of opportunity to rack up the boards and initiate the break. <\/p>\n
While the Pacers are league-average at rebounding, their 11th-ranked pace suggests more possessions will be available than usual. <\/p>\n
Barnes has been in great form recently and owns a solid track-record versus his former teammate, Pascal Siakam. <\/p>\n
In four games against the Pacers over the past two seasons, he\u2019s averaged 10.5 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n
Sandro Mamukelashvili 9+ points<\/p>\n
This is the first time we\u2019ve thrown Mamu on our Same Game Parlay, and quite frankly, he deserved his flowers sooner. <\/p>\n
Over this winning stretch, no player owns a higher net rating than Sandro (9.2). <\/p>\n
He\u2019s been instrumental to Toronto\u2019s success leading the bench unit alongside Jamal Shead. <\/p>\n
While Jakob Poeltl is more of a traditional centre, Sandro gives the Raptors a stretch-five element to their offence with the ability to get up and down the court. <\/p>\n
He gets 26.9 per cent of his points on the fast break and leads the team with the highest percentage of points off turnovers at 22.3 per cent. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s a perfect match for a Pacers team that allows a whopping 164.8 points per 100 possessions, dead last in the league. <\/p>\n
This leg also bakes in my inherent belief that the Raptors can blow out Indiana tonight. <\/p>\n
In the event that the starters get more rest, Sandro should get a minutes bump. <\/p>\n
As an added bonus, he\u2019s covered this line in five of the past six games. <\/p>\n
Jamal Shead 4+ assists<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve been watching the Raptors, it\u2019s easy to note how much of an impact Shead has had on winning. <\/p>\n
Shead owns a +3.4 net rating, which far exceeds any of the five regular Raptors starters. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s finding himself on the court more often as head coach Darko Rajakovic is trusting him and Immanuel Quickley to co-exist on the court. <\/p>\n
As pointed out by my Basketball Island pod mate, Fabio Lucarini, their pairing might be needed more than usual with T.J. McConnell back in the lineup for Indiana. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s room for increased minutes due to the matchup but also blowout potential as well. <\/p>\n
At the end of the day, track record matters when selecting SGP legs, and fewer bets have been more consistent than Shead dimes. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s collected four-or-more assists in 11-of-12 games this year.<\/p>\n
Indiana has been a bottom-five defence and their depth is razor thin. <\/p>\n
This parlay is counting on the Raptors being able to capitalize. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guess how many months it\u2019s been since the Toronto Raptors have been two games above .500? Thirty-six months.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[712,49,48,459,82,96661],"class_list":["post-285278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-toronto-raptors-sports-basketball-team-team-statscom-28"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}