Raptors Hope To Continue Home Court Dominance Of Sixers

Facing a borderline unstoppable Kawhi Leonard and a defensively tenacious Toronto Raptors lineup, the Philadelphia 76ers dropped Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series to the Toronto Raptors. So what else is new? It was Philadelphia’s 14th straight loss to Toronto at the Air Canada Centre. Not that the Sixers have done much better at home against the Raptors–they’re 3-22 against Toronto overall since the start of the 2013-2014 season.

Philadelphia came back strong in their opening round series after losing Game 1 to Brooklyn on their home court. Following an opening contest where they shot 40.7% from the field and an embarrassing 12% from three point range they blitzed the Nets in four straight with only one game decided by single digits. Their shooting from the field was even worse in Game 1 of this series where Toronto held them to 39.3% while shredding the Sixers’ defense with a 51.9% performance of their own.

The Sixers just haven’t played well on the road this year. They had a losing record away from home during the regular season and even with a pair of road wins/covers in the Brooklyn series they’re just 22-22 SU/19-25 ATS in enemy territory. As a road underdog, they’ve gone 10-13 SU/ATS this year. The Raptors record against the NBA pointspread isn’t particularly good in any situation–they were something of an overvalued commodity during the regular season–but they are a solid 35-10 SU at the Air Canada Centre. Neither team have really done much for the betting public this year–Toronto has lost -6.4 units to date while Philadelphia has dropped -8.6 units for their ‘financial backers’.

Relative to this matchup, Toronto appears to have more ‘back class’ and a proven NBA playoff performer in Kawhi Leonard. Leonard is a basketball ‘perfect storm’–physically imposing, highly skilled and possessed with ‘hoop smarts’. He won a NBA title with San Antonio in 2014 and was named NBA Finals MVP. The scary thing for Philadelphia is that he’s been playing the best basketball of his career this season as evidenced by his monster showing in Game 1. Leonard has his own winning streak against the Sixers–he’s played in 14 career games against Philadelphia between San Antonio and Toronto and has never lost.

This is just a bad matchup for Philadelphia. Toronto isn’t just a better team, they’re a superior team with skills that perfectly exploit the Sixers’ weaknesses. Raptors on a 10-3 SU/9-4 ATS run against the Sixers over the last three seasons and lost only once SU/ATS to Philadelphia during the regular season. It’s tough to see the Sixers regrouping until Game 3 at home–if they’re able to do so at all. Raptors roll in Game 2.

BET TORONTO RAPTORS -6.5 OVER PHILADELPHIA 76ERS