The Toronto Raptors will be desperate to pick up a win on Sunday when they return home for Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Finals series with the Milwaukee Bucks as 2.5-point favourites on the NBA odds at sports books monitored by OddsShark.com.
Toronto never led during a lopsided 125-103 loss in Milwaukee in Game 2 on Friday, and now trails 2-0 in the series going into Sunday night’s Bucks vs. Raptors betting matchup at Scotiabank Arena.
The Raptors’ loss as 6.5-point road underdogs marks their worst defeat of the postseason, and heightens concerns about whether the team may be wearing down after dropping five of their past eight contests.
With the exception of their 125-89 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 5 of the second round, the Raptors have topped 101 points just once during their past eight outings, fuelling a dismal 2-6 run against the spread. Overall, Toronto has averaged just 100.75 points per game over its past eight outings, well back of the team’s average of 114.4 points per game during the regular season.
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However, that has produced fairly steady results for the UNDER in totals betting, which has gone 11-4 in the Raptors’ past 15 games overall, and 5-2 in seven home dates during that stretch, according to the OddsShark NBA Database.
Friday’s loss also extends the Raptors’ recent run of futility against Milwaukee. Toronto is now 1-6 SU and ATS in seven meetings with the Bucks since January 2018, falling to defeat by an average margin of 11 points in those losses.
Falling behind the Bucks in a playoff series is nothing new for Toronto; the Raptors needed to overcome a 2-1 series deficit to get past the Bucks in the first round of the 2017 playoffs. But with Milwaukee suffering consecutive SU defeats just once this season while compiling an NBA-best 60-22 record, the Raptors face tempered expectations on the NBA series prices, where they are now lengthy +650 underdogs in their bid to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.
For the Bucks, Friday’s victory continues a dominating run through the postseason, lifting them to 10-1 SU and ATS so far in the playoffs. The Milwaukee offence has been firing on all cylinders, averaging over 116.5 points per game, and topping 120 points on six occasions.
Not surprisingly, the Bucks have vaulted to heavy +1100 favourites to knock off Toronto and return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1974, and sit at +175 on the NBA championship odds.
