The Warriors are going to be happy to be back at home. They just finished off a five-game road swing, and they lost the last four. They fell despite some other-worldly performances from Steph Curry (more on him later). They are a much better team at home — 18-7 at home compared to 15-20 on the road. If you do the quick math, that means that hey have played 10 more road games than home games. Despite their recent struggles, then, that makes it easy to believe that they can hang on to the playoff spot they are currently in despite the resurgence of the Lakers.

Playoff dreams are fading fast for the Raptors. They have lost four in a row, and they are now 7.5 games out of a playoff spot. The Rudy Gay experiment isn’t going to pay immediate dividends — not that anyone in the world really believed it would. Now they are just playing out the string. They are a dismal road team — just 8-21 so far when outside of Canada — so this could be a tough spot for them.
 
Raptors at Warriors Betting Storylines

There is one stat that sums up Steph Curry and his magical season more than any other. He is shooting better from three-point range (45.2 percent) than he is from the field overall (44.6 percent). That’s ridiculous. He’s the best pure shooter in the league, and he has been proving it lately with his ridiculous play. It has to be frustrating for him, teammates, fans and bettors, though, that the team isn’t winning despite his strong shooting. Or perhaps they aren’t winning because he is shooting so well — opposing teams can just ignore him when he’s like this since they won’t stop him anyway, and that gives them extra bodies to deal with the rest of the team. Curry has played the Raptors five times in his career, and he is averaging more than 27 points while shooting over 53 percent from three-point range, so he’s very likely to have a good day here again.

Opposing Curry is Toronto’s Kyle Lowry. He is dealing with a finger injury that should be slowing him down, but it really isn’t. In fact, on Saturday he and his sore finger piled up a triple-double — 10 points, rebounds and assists. He’s playing well, but his team really isn’t — their four recent losses include embarrassing setbacks to the Wizards and Cavaliers. Toronto is supposed to be on the rebound, but it remains too clear that the rebuilding phase continues. And it will likely never end — this is Toronto, after all.

Rudy Gay hasn’t been able to contribute at full strength recently. In fact, in the best game the team has played in their last four — an overtime loss at Milwaukee on Saturday — Gay didn’t even play. Back spasms kept him out of that one, and there is a chance it will have him out of this one, too. He has been mostly offensively strong in his time in Toronto, and he single-handedly beat the Knicks in their only win in the last six, so his absence will be felt in this one if he is out. Since he is questionable now, he’s very unlikely to be strong even if he does play. It makes it even tougher to trust the Raptors than it already would have been.

We’ve already noted that the Warriors are good at home. Recently, though, they have been particularly impressive. They have won their last seven home games. Included in that has been wins over the Spurs, Thunder and Clippers — the top three teams in the West. Since one of those three is the likely playoff opponent of the Warriors, that’s a good omen for the team.

Raptors at Warriors NBA Odds and Betting Trends

BookMaker has the Warriors listed as 6.5-point home favorites with the total at 203.

The Raptors have covered each of their last four road games against teams with a winning home record. The Warriors have gone “over” the total each of the last eight times they have played a team with a win percentage below .400. Toronto is 0-7 ATS in their last seven visits to the Bay area. Five of the last seven meetings in this building have gone over the total.

Raptors at Warriors Picks and Betting Predictions

It’s all about the Warriors in this one. Whether Gay goes or not, the Raptors are in rough shape. They will have no motivation and it has shown recently. The Warriors will be relieved to be home where they are so comfortable, and Curry is going to be very comfortable against the Raptors. Golden State is going to run away with this one, and they will cover.

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