NBA - 701 Washington Wizards @ 702 Toronto Raptors
Projected Line: 194 points
Toronto keeps winning and with Milwaukee fading away lately, a potential #8 seed in the playoffs isn't that impossible! On their last game against the Knicks, Toronto's offense didn't look very improved in comparison to their previous games. They ended another game with less than 20 assists (18 this time) and of course, their offense had plenty of isolation moves once again mainly by Rudy Gay, who at least played closer to the basket this time with 6-9 FG at the rim! According to mysynergy, 23% of the Raptors's plays were isolation plays, something that shows their lack of offensive flow. Fortunately for them, they were very efficient on these plays with 9-19 FG and 1.09 PPP. Rudy Gay explored in the third quarter with 17 points and Toronto was then able to handle a late comeback from the Knicks down the stretch. The Raptors had two days off to practice prior to this contest and to try to improve their offensive chemistry, who seems to be a work in progress right now.
Washington had two nice back to back wins over Denver and Houston, after having lost at home with Toronto. Their defense has been a key factor for their good track record lately, but on these two games, the Wizards simply outscored both the Nuggets and the Rockets by beating them at their own game! Washington showed a nice ball movement with 27 and 31 assists, while showing also a good balance in scoring with a lot of players contributing with points. Oddly enough, the Wizards have been able to beat the elite teams this season, but they just can't sustain the same level of play against inferior opposition, especially on the road, so their main challenge for tonight will be to play as well as they played on their last two games.
After beating the Knicks, Toronto had 2 days off and so they had a chance to improve their offensive chemistry on practice. Even though they have been struggling on their offensive flow, I've already seen some improvement on their last game. They shot 12-21 FG at the rim and even though the number might seem ridiculous, it was still better than the 8-15, 10-14 and 8-15 FG that they had had at the rim on their last three games. This time, they attempted more than 20 shots at the rim. They also only committed 10 turnovers and I also them to show an improved offense tonight.
On the other hand, Washington is now playing with more confidence, especially after defeating two good Western Conference teams in a row, where they showed great offense supported by a nice ball movement (64.29% and 75.61% assist/rate in these two games). The last game between these two teams was an ugly game where Toronto won by 96-88, with both teams committing 17 turnovers each. I don't know if it was something related with the All Star break, but John Wall had a horrible game with 1-12 FG and he was especially terrible in managing the team's offense and 6 assists and 7 turnovers! Washington managed to have good transition numbers with 20 fast break points with 7-10 FG and 1.53 PPP in transitions, but what made them lose was a poor shooting with 4-22 FG from 16-23 feet and of course too many turnovers. With the confidence that they have gained after beating both the Nuggets and the Rockets, I expect them to play better offense against the Raptors this time, especially John Wall who should have a much better game tonight.
Last week's game between these two teams had a pace of 91.50 and so, I expect a similar pace for tonight's contest. The difference for tonight's game in comparison to last week's contest is that both games have regained some of their offensive rhythm after the All Star Break, something that didn't happen last week. This will make the difference in here and turn this contest into a high scoring one. Therefore, I'll be taking the Over in here.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 701/702 Over 190 @ -115 / 1.87 on Bovada
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