Friday should be another good day to watch and bet on NBA games. They have 10 matchups on the schedule and two of those are definitely extra exciting to put your money on. In Toronto, DeMar DeRozan will be visited by John Wall and the Wizards in a battle of the East’s top teams, while in Cleveland, LeBron James and his crew are seeking revenge over the Hawks, who dominated them in their first meeting.
The season series is split at one apiece between these two squads. In the first meeting months back, the Raptors came out victorious, 113-103, after fans were treated by big performances from DeMar DeRozan (40 points) and John Wall (33 points, 11 assists). The second encounter was just yesterday, where the Wizards exact revenge, 105-96, as they held the Raps to just 36.7 percent shooting.
Though Kyle Lowry is out for the Raptors, (wrist), we can still expect this to be an offense-filled contest, with both clubs ranking inside the top 10 of points and offensive efficiency. Serge Ibaka is also showing that he can be a solid second option, as he is averaging 17.5 points since arriving to Toronto, while also putting up 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.
Washington is 18-2 in its last 20 games at home (15-5 ATS), while Toronto is 2-7 in its last nine games on the road (3-6 ATS).
The Hawks will enter the game as winners of back-to-back, and they are playing great basketball on both ends of the floor in that span. Offensively, they are scoring 107 PPG on 51.5 percent shooting, while on defense, they are making opponents shoot just 42 percent and commit 19 turnovers per game.
Atlanta is 11-5 in its last 16 games at home (7-9 ATS).
For the Cavs, their last three performances on offense are a bit underwhelming – 100 PPG on 45.2 percent shooting – especially since they were putting up over 118 points in the 13 games prior. It doesn’t look good, but they do, however, have two new key rotation guys in Deron Williams and Andrew Bogut that are sure to create an impact soon enough. Also, LeBron James (25.7 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 8.9 APG) and Kyrie Irving (24.7 PPG, 5.9 APG) are continuing to play great basketball.
