Toronto Raptors vs Philadelphia 76ers betting tips and predictions for Thursday’s NBA game. In what could be a first round match-up in this year’s Eastern Conference playoffs, the Philadelphia 76ers hit the road and travel to Canada to face off with the Toronto Raptors. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors have continued surging towards the top of the Eastern Conference with another win as they beat the Atlanta Hawks 118-108 at home. It was their 7th win in 10 games and they have a solid opportunity to improve that tonight against a team they’ve already beaten twice this season in 3 meetings.
Pascal Siakam has been on a roll over the past couple of months, he led the team in scoring once again with 31 points in the win over Atlanta, making up for Fred VanVleet’s 4-for-21 night and just 12 points scored. In 2 games against Philly, Siakam is averaging 27 points this season so look out for him to have another dominant performance in front of the home crowd here.
The Raptors have enjoyed a really good run in home games vs the Sixers and have won 17 of the last 20 meetings at the Scotiabank Arena.
Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia will be without Matisse Thybulle for this game as he isn’t eligible to play in Toronto. That could be a hit to their ambitions here as he does a really good job at defending the opposing teams’ best player. That means an extra load on Joel Embiid who is already doing a lot of the heavy lifting for them, so it’ll be interesting to see how they adjust here. Embiid is also going for the scoring title, with his latest performance against Indiana where he scored 45 points he has now surpassed LeBron James for the lead atop of the scoring charts.
But, the big man wants more. He is also going for the MVP award and getting his team into the top 3 in the East could be the difference between winning it or losing it to Nikola Jokic. Philadelphia hasn’t been good in terms of covering the spread, they are just 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games and have covered once in 6 road games. However, they did win the earlier meeting between the two teams played in Toronto, so that’s a positive note ahead of this match-up.
It’s a difficult game to predict, Philly is the more in-form team and they have Embiid, while the Raptors are playing at home. Ultimately, I think Toronto’s lack of inside presence will determine the outcome here. Embiid is averaging 28.5 points in 2 meetings this season, look for him to go for at least 35 here and bring his team another big win on the road. Philly to cover.
Toronto Raptors vs Philadelphia 76ers Predictions & Odds
With so much on the line in this game, I think the defences will tighten up more than they usually do. The previous meeting finished with a final score of 93-88, so that’s also something to consider here. The under has cashed in 6 of the last 10 meetings and just 210.4 points per game were scored during that stretch of games. If we expand that to the last 18 meetings, 12 of those have gone under the total. Toronto has gone under in quite a lot of their games lately – 13 of their last 19 have cashed on that bet, including 9 of their last 12 vs Eastern Conference teams.
Both defences rank in the top 8 in the NBA as far as points allowed per game. Philadelphia allows 107 per game, while the Raptors are slightly better at 106.9 per game. On the road Philly is a top 5 defence, while at home the Raptors are 7th in points allowed. With the 2 teams ranking 25th and 26th in pace of play, I think the smart play here is to back the under, so let’s go with that.
