Raptors Go Into Play-In With Bulls As Betting Favourites

Raptors' Shortcomings Could Be Exposed

They’ve never been a good shooting team this season. Their bench has been weak to a point where some starters led the NBA in minutes played. 

F Pascal Siakam led the league in minutes per game (37.4). G Fred VanVleet was fifth (36.7). And this was a season where the head coach, Nick Nurse, at an inopportune time - during a playoff race - sent a clear message that he wasn’t 100% sure he would be back coaching the team next season. 

Sports writers are often frustrated when coaches or players can’t get beyond the day-to-day cliches, and maybe Nurse didn’t fully mean what came across, but his sloppy wording cast a rather large pall of doubt that he wasn’t happy with his current situation. 

Tough to go into the post-season with those storm clouds. And if that wasn’t enough, there has also been scuttlebutt that F O.G. Anunoby has been unhappy in his role in Toronto. Anunoby was one of two players in the NBA this season to record over 120 steals and over 50 blocks. He shot .519 from the field, including .424 from three-point range post-All-Star break.

So, how do the sports betting sites see this game?

Looking ahead to Bulls Game

The Raptors finished ninth in the Eastern Conference at 41-41 and will host the Chicago Bulls in one of the NBA’s play-in tournament games Wednesday night. 

Toronto held Chicago to 104.3 points over the 2-1 series win this season. Since the All-Star break, Toronto led the NBA in the fewest opponent field goal attempts (82.3). Toronto ranked second in fewest opponent points per game (108.6) in that span, while Chicago ranked first (107.9). The Raptors finished 31-6 this year when holding opponents to 110 points or fewer. 

BetMGM has the current spread at Raptors -5.5, the Bulls at +5.5, and the current NBA betting Moneyline at Raptors 1.48 and Bulls 2.75. The Bulls are seeing 68% of the bets, 53% of the handle. At DraftKings, they have the current spread at Raptors -5, Bulls +5, and the Moneyline at Raptors 1.5, Bulls 2.7. The O/U at DraftKings is 214.5. NorthStar Bets has the Raptors at -5, Bulls +5 on the Spread, and the Moneyline at Raptors 1.49, Bulls 2.7.

The Bulls were last in the NBA in both 3-point makes and attempts so there’s that. They had an offensive rating of 112.8 – 24th in the NBA, but a defensive rating of 111.5 (fifth in the league). The Raptors were middle of the pack – 13th in offensive rating (114.6) and 11th in defensive rating (113.1).

We will give their core of Siakam, VanVleet and C Jakob Poeltl, the edge against a Bulls’ core of former Raptor DeMar DeRozan (there is an “X” factor with DeRozan, who may rise up and stick it to Raptors president Masai Ujiri and the organization that traded him), Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic, mostly because of home-court advantage (they beat the Bulls both times in Toronto this season).   

Here’s how the play-in tournament works – No. 7 in the conference plays No. 8, with the winner earning the No. 7 seed in the NBA playoffs. The losing team plays the winner of the No. 9 seed versus No. 10 seed game, with the winner there getting the No. 8 playoff seed, where they will play the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs.

The performance against the Bulls will play into whether the Raptors bring back unrestricted free agents Gary Trent Jr. and VanVleet next season.