There is no looking back for the Toronto Raptors at this point. <\/p>\n
As it stands, FanDuel has them listed at -1100 to make the playoffs, a 91.7 per cent implied probability. <\/p>\n
The Raptors keep popping up in every single blockbuster trade rumour whether it\u2019s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Domantas Sabonis or Anthony Davis. <\/p>\n
So, is a paradigm shifting trade incoming? I\u2019d wager no.<\/p>\n
But there is something to take away from all the noise. <\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s name doesn\u2019t once come up as a seller.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re always a rumoured buyer which indicates how the front office views this current roster. <\/p>\n
Adding a superstar player will undoubtedly push those playoff odds even higher, but even without a move, the Raptors have shown enough to stay above the play-in tournament. <\/p>\n
Jakob Poeltl has missed 19 straight games yet they\u2019ve managed to go 12-7. <\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t just survive over this period; they thrived registering the sixth-best defensive rating. <\/p>\n
As it stands, they sit three games out of the play-in. <\/p>\n
Tonight\u2019s contest is sneakily a critical game against one of the teams capable of usurping them in the Top 6. <\/p>\n
After a disheartening collapse against the New York Knicks, here are three bets I\u2019m eyeing ahead of a testy matchup. <\/p>\n
Jalen Suggs under 14.5 points (-106)<\/p>\n
The Raptors defence has overachieved during this period without Poeltl which is in parallel with their entire season.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve held opponents to 34.2 percent from three which is second-best in the NBA. <\/p>\n
Now that it\u2019s been 49 games, there\u2019s no sample size excuse; the data clearly says Toronto guards the three-ball at an elite level. <\/p>\n
This aligns with betting against Suggs who takes just under half of his field-goal attempts from deep. <\/p>\n
Coming back from a second injury in a month, Orlando has been slowly ramping him back up. <\/p>\n
Over these first three games back from the MCL injury, he\u2019s yet to clear 30 minutes. <\/p>\n
His shooting has also been rusty – he\u2019s gone 32.4 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from deep. <\/p>\n
The other reason why I see opportunity here? <\/p>\n
His role on offence is being Wally Pipped by Anthony Black. <\/p>\n
Sitting at +4000 as the sixth-choice for Most Improved Player on FanDuel, Black has carved out a permanent role in their offence. <\/p>\n
Prior to the first injury Suggs suffered on December 13th, Black was averaging 13.0 ppg. <\/p>\n
Since then, he\u2019s up to 19.5 ppg which includes five games where Suggs was active. <\/p>\n
The Gonzaga star has seen his usage rate dip from 24.1 to 20.8 post-injury. <\/p>\n
To top it off, he\u2019s gone under 14.5 points in 17-of-26 games this year, the majority of which were prior to Black\u2019s emergence. <\/p>\n
Paolo Banchero over 4.5 assists (-106)<\/p>\n
Sticking to Toronto\u2019s defence, they\u2019ve shown some consistent tendencies of late against opposing primary scorers. <\/p>\n
Take a look at the game log of recent superstars against their season-averages: <\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson \u2013 13 points vs. 27.6 ppg<\/p>\n
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander \u2013 24 points vs. 32.0 ppg<\/p>\n
Stephen Curry \u2013 16 points vs. 27.3 ppg<\/p>\n
Luka Doncic \u2013 25 points vs. 33.6 ppg<\/p>\n
Toronto likes to send extra help early, forcing opponents to score via their secondary options. <\/p>\n
Now, is there a world where they let Banchero cook? <\/p>\n
Yes there certainly is. <\/p>\n
But after shooting over 53 percent and averaging 31.7 points this week, I anticipate the Raptors sending doubles often.<\/p>\n
To his credit though, he\u2019s a rather underrated passer. <\/p>\n
He finished with a 23-15-10 triple-double the last time they played in December. <\/p>\n
Since that game, he\u2019s cleared 4 or more assists in 13-of-14. <\/p>\n
Unless the Raptors overhaul their principles, I expect them to take the ball out of Banchero\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
RJ Barrett over 14.5 points (-120)<\/p>\n
On the theme of defensive tendencies, Orlando is very intentional about not sending help. <\/p>\n
When ball-handlers are driving to the hoop, rarely do the other four Magic defenders peel off their assignments unless absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n
This has resulted in them allowing the fourth-fewest three-point attempts while sitting bottom-10 in points in the paint allowed. <\/p>\n
This is why my attention is on Barrett \u2013 the best on the team at getting into the paint.<\/p>\n
67 percent of his FGAs come around the rim which aligns with this Orlando defence that\u2019s quietly been the sixth-worst since Franz Wagner\u2019s injury. <\/p>\n
They also own the seventh-highest foul rate which matches up with Barrett\u2019s aggressive style of play. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m certainly cautious about the minutes restriction he\u2019s on but in an important game for Toronto, I expect his usage to be high when he\u2019s on the court. <\/p>\n
Prior to his most recent injury, he\u2019s cleared 15 points in 19-of-23 games. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no looking back for the Toronto Raptors at this point. As it stands, FanDuel has them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-443654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443654","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=443654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}