Toronto just got smoked in Denver 128-109 for their 3rd loss in 4 games, understandable considering the injury situation they’re going through right now. Kawhi remains out with his knee issue, the Raptors could also be without Scottie Barnes who has a groin problem. It’s hard to call a game a must-win for a team in early November, but I think this one is as close as it gets for Toronto. I can’t even imagine how big of a hit would it be to their confidence levels if they lost to one of the worst teams in the East on Friday. The defense will have to pick it up though, we just saw Denver shoot an insane 62% from the field against them.
Milwaukee is also in a bit of a rut at the moment having lost four games in a row. They did cover the spread against Boston the other day, losing only by 7 points against a Tatum-less Celtics team. If there’s one advantage they have going into this game it’s in the health department with just Kam Jones on the injury list for head coach Taylor Jenkins. We’ve also seen slight improvements on the defensive end in the last two games vs Boston and Minnesota, but it remains to be seen whether or not that is sustainable in the long run. Tyler Herro has impressed as the number one option averaging 22.3 ppg, while also shooting a career high 42.6% from downtown.
Some people might be turned off by my pick here and I completely understand that. But I just cannot trust the injury riddled Raptors to win by 7 points here. As bad as Milwaukee has been, they at least have all their players at their disposal and are playing at home here. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and back the home team to cover.
Raptors vs Bucks: Bucks +6.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.
