The Toronto Raptors will end a successful regular season this Wednesday in South Beach, where they will go up against the also playoff-bound Miami Heat. Will the Raps end their regular season schedule on a high note? Or will the Heat roast the Raps at home? Read on for a preview of this game below.
It’s all about sharpening their tools for the playoffs for the Raptors, who are fresh off a 108-99 road win over the Detroit Pistons last Monday. After a shaky stretch, the DeMar DeRozan and company have won all their last four games, and are obviously rounding into form heading into the postseason. They will close out their regular season campaign in South Beach, where Toronto is 6-4 SU and 4-6 ATS in its last 10 appearances there. That includes their Feb. 13 visit of Miami in which DeRozan unloaded 27 points while his backcourt partner Kyle Lowry contributed 22 more. The Raptors are averaging 107.8 points on 47.7 field goal shooting percentage in their last 10 games. They are also 3-0-1 ATS in their last four games overall.
Miami is in the playoffs, but if the Heat don’t want to meet the Eastern Conference’s top seed right in the first round of the playoffs, they will have to win this game to prevent that from ultimately happening. The Heat lost their last game to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday at home, 115-93. Miami struggled to hit its outside shot against OKC, going 5-for-22 from deep in that game. The Heat, who are 8-2 SU and 6-4 ATS in their last 10 at home, relied too much on their three-point shooting, as evidenced by their measly 14 trips to the free throw line — way below their 19.5 average per game. Hopefully for them, they can regain their three-point shooting touch versus Miami. They sank 12 three-pointer on 29 attempts in the February game against Toronto and are 11th in the league with an average if 11.0 threes per ball game.
Writer’s Prediction
The Raptors deal Miami a 105-101 loss, and head into the 2018 NBA playoffs as second favorite to win the East.
