The Toronto Raptors host the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in an NBA Atlantic Division matchup where both teams have won four games in a row.
The Toronto Raptors host the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in an NBA Atlantic Division matchup where both teams have won four games in a row.
The Toronto Raptors host the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in an NBA Atlantic Division matchup where both teams have won four games in a row.
The 76ers are back on track after losing six of eight games. The last of their four straight wins came against the Brooklyn Nets, 117-111. They are fifth in the Eastern Conference, one game back of the Raptors.
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Toronto rank 12th in the league in scoring average and their offense has been on fire in their four-game win streak, where they have averaged 128.5 points per game.
These teams have split the two games facing each other this season with each winning at home. The Raptors have covered the spread in seven of their last nine home games against the 76ers.
This season the Raptors are 15-7 at home and while the 76ers are only 9-14 away, their last two wins have come on the road. Still, in Philadelphia’s current streak none of the teams they faced have a winning record.
In their last game the 76ers outscored the Nets by 10 points in the second half. While they shot a lower overall field goal percentage (44.7% to 48.1%), they forced 22 turnovers and only committed 13 while outscoring Brooklyn on fast-break points 23-6.
Ben Simmons went big in the Brooklyn win, going for a triple-double and scoring a career-high 34 points. Al Horford chimed in for 19 points, while Tobias Harris had 15 points despite going 5/17 from the floor. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid leads the team in scoring and rebounding but has missed the last seven games with a finger injury and is likely out for the rest of this month.
Harris (19.3 ppg) has struggled with his shot and has not scored over 15 points in any of his last three games even though the 76ers won all of them. Simmons (16 ppg, 7.8 rpg, and 8.5 apg) is averaging 23.8 points per game over his last five games.
In the Raptors’ last game they beat the struggling Atlanta Hawks 122-117 on the road. They shot a much lower field goal percentage (41.3% to 49.4%) but forced 24 turnovers and outscored Atlanta by 10 points from the free-throw line. Norman Powell came off the bench to score 27 points for Toronto and Pascal Siakam and Fred Van Fleet combined for 38 points.
Siakam (23.7 ppg) leads the Raptors in scoring but has only averaged 14.6 points in his last three games. The Raptors are deep with five players averaging over 14 points per game. Kyle Lowry is the team’s second-leading scorer, but he only had 10 points in the win over the Hawks after going for 28 points in his previous game.
This matchup features two of the best defensive teams in the league, as the 76ers rank second in opponents’ points per game and the Raptors rank fifth.
Toronto Raptors -6 at -111.11 with Bovada
The Raptors have won four in a row but were not impressive in beating the lowly Hawks in their last game. However, they will be fired up for this home game against divisional rivals Philadelphia without Embiid. Siakam and Lowry will bounce back with good games and the Raptors will win at home and cover the spread, extending their winning streak to five games.