Friday Night Free Pick Spurs at Toronto
Scott Morris | January 18, 2018
Friday night at 8:05 PM EST the Spurs of San Antonio visit the Toronto Raptors. Both teams are playing well this season and have the same amount of wins. The Spurs are 30-16 and the Raptors are 30-13. Against the spread our matchup tool shows that Toronto is slightly better at 24-19 vs. San Antonio’s 22-20-4
The Raptors score 112 points on offense but allow 104 points to be scored on offense. The Spurs play a different game. They get more out of their defense, allowing only 98 PPG. But, they only score 101 PPG. Superior coaching and player execution makes up for an aging roster as well as injuries.
According to our odds tool, at this moment the spread and total look like this:
801 San Antonio 208
802 Toronto -5.5
The Spurs are without Kawhi Leonard due to a quad injury. Last night the Spurs defeated the Brooklyn Nets without the star player so their confidence has not been dashed. They seem to do fine when he isn’t in the lineup (25-12). Just 5-4 with Leonard.
Head to head the Spurs own Toronto in their last ten. Straight up the Spurs are 8-2 (7-3 ATS). Some other trends to consider are:
- San Antonio is 12-2 SU in its last 14 games when playing Toronto
- The total has gone OVER in 9 of San Antonio’s last 13 games when playing Toronto
- San Antonio is 2-3-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Toronto
Though the stat above seems to suggest OVER we are staying away from this total. We like the side play of 801 San Antonio +5.5 – If Toronto beats the Spurs, we look for it to be under the 5 point margin. Historically, betting the Spurs in this spot at Toronto has been a safe bet and who are we to argue with history?
