Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Streaking Raptors Favoured Against Nets
The Toronto Raptors are back.
After watching their tank go awry with three straight wins, the Raptors are welcoming back their stars for Wednesday night and might even be in line to make it four straight against the Brooklyn Nets.
Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and Fred VanVleet are all scheduled to return to take on a very banged-up Nets team. While Brooklyn's injury report has yet to be announced, the team will certainly be without James Harden and may be without Kevin Durant who missed Tuesday's game with a thigh injury. That's in addition to the fact that Brooklyn is coming off a back-to-back in which Kyrie Irving played 38 minutes in a 134-129 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.
It's why the Raptors can be found anywhere from 1.5-point favourites to 3-point favourites as on Wednesday morning, according to Covers.
Heading into Wednesday night's action the Raptors are just a half-game back of the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls for the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference. While a win would certainly help stay in play-in contention, both the Wizards and Bulls have pretty easy matchups against the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, respectively, for Wednesday and it's unlikely Toronto would jump both of them for the final play-in spot.
Conversely, in the reverse standings, the Raptors are a full game back of the Sacramento Kings for the 7th-best lottery odds. The Kings have lost nine of their last 10 games including a Tuesday night game to the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves. That being said, Sacramento gets a rematch on Wednesday against the Timberwolves and a win over Minnesota could be helpful for the Raptors.
Further Reading
Yuta Watanabe shares his mother's reaction to his new contract
Nick Nurse tries to explain Raptors strange injury report
Fred VanVleet and Nick Nurse share their uncertainty about the NBA's play-in tournament
