The Toronto Raptors (+2.5) weren’t going to let themselves lose to the Milwaukee Bucks (–2.5) in front of their home crowd – and most importantly in front of Drake – in Game 3, as they won it to cut the Bucks’ series lead in half. With momentum on their side and another home game ahead of them, will the Raptors pull even with Milwaukee? Or will the Bucks regroup and take a commanding 3-1 series lead? NBA Series Prices at the sportsbook favor Milwaukee with -600 odds to move on to the Finals.
Betting on the Milwaukee Bucks (60-22 Regular Season)
It sounds impossible, but Giannis Antetokounmpo had his first bad game of the Eastern Conference finals, scoring just 2 points on a salty 5-for-16 shooting from the field in 45 minutes in a 118-112 double-overtime loss. He also committed eight turnovers. However, Antetokounmpo found a different way to still look like a monster by grabbing a dizzying total of 23 rebounds. Even Khris Middleton was not himself in Game 3, scoring just nine points on 3-for-16 shooting. The Bucks fell in love with the 3-point shot a bit more than what’s good for them in that contest, as they went 14-for-44 for a 31.8 percent success rate from deep. Antetokounmpo is too great of a player to be limited the same way again for the second game in a row, so expect the Greek Freak to bounce back in a big way. The Bucks’ bench, particularly George Hill and Malcolm Brogdon, came up big to cover up for Antetokounmpo’s underperformance, scoring 24 and 20 points, respectively. Once the starters get it going again for Milwaukee, the Bucks should be fine, as the team’s bench has been outplaying its Toronto counterpart. The Bucks’ second unit is averaging 43.3 points per game to just 26.0 by the Raptors’.
The Bucks are 8-2 against the spread (ATS) in their last 10 games.
Betting on the Toronto Raptors (58-24 Regular Season)
It’s been made abundantly clear that the Raptors would be nowhere near to where they are now if not for Kawhi Leonard. The Klaw reinforced that again by dropping 36 points on 11-for-25 shooting, including some timely basket in the clutch to lead Toronto to its first win of the series. Pascal Siakam also bounced back from an eight-point performance in Game 2 by posting 25 points and 11 boards. If the Raptors are going to even the series and eventually win it, they need Siakam to continue playing that well, as the Robin to Leonard’s Batman. Also, it will be huge for them if Marc Gasol duplicates his nice showing in Game 3. After scoring a total of eight points in Games 1 and 2, Gasol woke up and had 16 points in Game 3 with four 3-pointers. If Serge Ibaka can follow the example of Gasol, the Raptors will be in finer shape. Ibaka continues to struggle, as he only had five points in Game 3. He is averaging just 5.7 points in the conference finals compared to his regular season average of 15.0 points per contest.
The Raptors are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 home games.
