The New York Knicks look to continue with their impressive home games when they’ll host the second-best Eastern Conference team, the Toronto Raptors – a team that handed them a convincing defeat in Canada just five days ago. Will the change of venue will be enough to turn the game fortune as well or the Raptors will confirm their dominance?
Raptors at Knicks
Spread: Toronto -3.5 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: o/u 212 points (-110)
The Raptors trust their defense when shots won’t fall
Having to play the Wizards without John Wall made big difference on Sunday when the Raptors managed to pull out the fourth consecutive victory, 100-91. However, it was a tough game, as the hot shooting Raptors hit a dry spell.
The first half was dead even. The Raptors couldn’t hit their threes, but managed to keep pushing to create separation behind very active DeRozan’s half – the Raptors’ high scorer dropped 22 first-half points on the Wizards with an array of different moves and looks. But as soon as the Raptors would score and go up 4 or 5 points, the Wizards responded with a quick basket, or a three. Beal was torturing them from the deep, and while he hit some tough shots, there were also too many times he came out of a screen wide open, as Raptors bigs failed to communicate on defense. It all changed at halftime – Casey and his coaching staff came up with a different plan, forcing Beal to reject all screens, and taking him almost completely out of the game. Still, the Raptors continued to miss from the deep and the Wizards stayed in it until a bench unit started off the fourth quarter shutting down the opposition completely, and the starters followed the lead. The Raptors allowed only 15 fourth-quarter points, and some of those were lucky shots. DeRozan finished with 33 points on 15-of-26 shooting. No other Raptors stood out offensively, but VanVleet and Miles each hit big and timely threes to create some breathing space before the very finish. Siakam, Onunoby, and Nogueira continued to affect the game on the defensive side, proving that the Raptors are really 12-deep. Lowry had little impact on the game with 10 points, but he wasn’t playing poorly – he was just not aggressive enough. Toronto ended up shooting 44 percent and 10-of-39 from the three-point range, but held the Wizards to just 42 percent, despite their high accuracy from deep (11-of-19). Both teams took good care of the ball, but the Raptors were better in this department as well, with only 7 giveaways.
Ibaka returned after a one-game absence, but the Raptors starting wing Norman Powell has been held out again. Toronto is 4-0 in his absence, so he might not return to the starting lineup as soon as he recovers.
Place: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017. 7:30 PM ET
TV Coverage: MSG, TSN
The Knicks use a good all-around team effort to defeat Clippers
The Knicks are already feeling the effects of freeing themselves from Carmelo Anthony, building togetherness and team effort and it showed best in the 107-85 victory over a Clippers team, who perhaps have more talent, but have zero leadership and team chemistry. The Knicks improved to 9-7, finding themselves in an unlikely playoff spot.
OK, it’s still just one-fifth of the season, and the schedule will eventually catch up the Knicks, but they are certainly heading the right way. They share the ball. They play hard. They have taken on the personality of their best player. Hornacek is regaining the trust of the locker room by running a system that fits the roster. Porzingis has flourished. He entered the night averaging 27.8 points and scored 25 against the Clippers. Kanter finished with 12 points on four shots with 16 rebounds, as the Knicks frontcourt outclassed the Clippers prized duo. It was a game of runs – both sides had periods of lapses, but the Knicks were still more consistent. They held the Clippers to 24 or fewer points in all four quarters, and it was a good team effort. Offensively, Jarrett Jack is still providing top-notch playmaking. He’s never forcing issues, and when he’s on the court, the Knicks commit to moving the ball as a team, and the shots fall with efficiency. Perhaps most importantly, they push the pace and play with a sense of urgency instead of settling for contested midrange jump shots. McDermott was phenomenal, pouring in 16 points on five three-point field goals, all of which played a definitive role in the Knicks prevailing. As a team, the Knicks shot just 43.2 percent but did everything else right. They knocked down their free throws, often an overlooked but so important part of the game (24-of-25); they outrebounded the opposition 51-36, and they held the Clippers to just 37.5 percent shooting. Turnovers remain to be an issue, but for once, they generated an equal number on the defensive end.
Ntilikina is battling flu and Baker is out since third game. The Knicks are better without them anyway.
Toronto Raptors at New York Knicks Game Trends & Prediction
The Raptors are 10-6 overall and 6-3 away from home against the spread, establishing themselves as a trustworthy source of income, especially lately when they covered in each of the last 4 games. They are outscoring the opposition by an elite 6.9 points on average, but remain under the radar. They play both sides, so they are less interesting on the total points market, where they’ve gone 8-8 so far, without any significant recent trends.
The Knicks are also beat their expectations and can match the Raptors overall ATS record. They started the season very slowly, but ramped it up recently, covering in 7 of their last 9 games. All of the cover came at home, while the two losses (one of which at hand of the Raptors), came away from home. The major difference is that they feel much more comfortable producing good offense at home. They are 7-4 against the O/U in Madison Square Arena, and 0-5 when playing elsewhere.
Admi-Rank: The Raptors continue to rack up good wins, playing good ball on both sides of the court, and their rank is flourishing. The Knicks success comes with a caveat, they mixed some bad losses with the wins, and played an easy schedule. Still, they are pushing toward relevancy.
The Knicks are playing at home for the twelfth time this season already, and they made the best out of the early schedule. However, let’s not forget that they’ve come back from double-digit deficit multiple times, and this won’t happen against good teams all the time. The last time these two teams met, the length of Raptors’ forwards really bothered Porzingis and the offense collapsed without his contribution, so the Knicks will surely work on new ways of giving him the ball in his operational areas. However, the Raptors have shown us that they can adjust mid-game, and this gives me a reason to believe that they’ll be able to control the game, especially if they would shoot a bit better than they did in the last game.
The Knicks are held as a 3.5-point home underdog, so the books are aware of Toronto. They still chose to fade the value on the home team, knowing that they are more likely to be a public option. The true fair number is -5, giving me just enough wiggling room to place a wager. However, I’m not going to jump on it early, in hopes to get Toronto -3 before kick off. I’m also going with minus point here, this without hesitation. The total line has been set to 212, and that simply too high. The Knicks have started playing some defense themselves, and the Raptors are among the better teams in this regard.
My Pick: Toronto -3.5 (-110)
Total: Under 212 points (-110)
