The Toronto Raptors will be trying to close out their NBA first-round series with a win in Game 6 when the visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday as small 1.5-point underdogs at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Toronto rebounded from a pair of shaky performances early in the series to post wins in Games 4 and 5, including a dominating 118-93 victory as six-point home chalk on Monday to claim a 3-2 series lead going into Thursday night’s Raptors versus Bucks betting matchup at the Bradley Center.
After closing out the regular season on a 12-2 straight-up run, the Raptors opened against Milwaukee as heavy -365 favourites on the NBA series prices. However, Toronto struggled early on against the Bucks, suffering a stunning 97-83 loss as 7.5-point home chalk in Game 1, and had season-low point production in a 104-77 defeat in Game 3 as two-point road underdogs.
The Raptors turned the tables with an 87-76 victory in Game 4, once again as two-point road underdogs, before seizing the series lead on Monday night and resurrecting their odds on the NBA series prices, which have soared to -700.
While Toronto has avoided consecutive SU losses in its past 21 outings, it has also been an uneven bet at the sportsbooks, going 11-9-1 against the spread during that stretch.
Against-the-spread wins in Games 4 and 5 put the brakes on the Raptors’ five-game ATS slide in the post-season. However, Toronto has failed to cover in consecutive road playoff games since a first-round matchup with the Brooklyn Nets in 2014, going 3-11 ATS since then, and 1-2 ATS when pegged as underdogs of two or fewer points.
The Bucks offence was shut down in their two recent losses to Toronto, averaging just 84.5 points, and hitting a meagre 37 per cent from the field in their Game 4 loss on home court. That leaves them on the verge of elimination in the first round for the seventh time in as many playoff appearances.
Milwaukee powered to a sixth-place finish in the Eastern Conference on the strength of a 14-3 SU run in March, but has struggled since, going 4-7 SU in its past 11 games and just 10-12 ATS in its past 22 games according to the OddsShark NBA Database.
Listed as distant +450 longshots on the series prices to advance to the second round, the Bucks are winless SU in three straight Game 6 matchups, and have posted consecutive SU wins over the Raptors just once in their last 20 meetings. However, they are a solid 10-5 SU and 9-5-1 ATS in their past 15 games at home when favoured by two or fewer points.
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