Toronto Raptors vs San Antonio Spurs Prediction, 12/26/2020 NBA Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Toronto Raptors vs San Antonio Spurs

Date: Saturday, December 26, 2020

Location: AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX

TV: KENS

Odds/Point Spread: Toronto (-1.5)

The San Antonio Spurs (32-39 last year) play the Toronto Raptors (53-19 last season) at AT&T Center on Saturday. Toronto opens this contest as 1.5-point favorites. The O/U has been set at 225.

The Toronto Raptors stepped onto the hardwood against the New Orleans Pelicans and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 113-99 in their last contest. Toronto finished the game having earned a 42.7% FG percentage (38 out of 89) and converted 14 of their 46 three-point attempts. At the charity stripe, the Raptors converted 9 of 12 attempts for a percentage of 75.0%. In reference to pulling down boards, they earned 35 with 7 of them being on the offensive end. They also dished out 26 dimes in this game in addition to having 10 steals and 5 blocks. In reference to defense, Toronto let their opponent shoot 52.5% from the floor on 42 out of 80 shooting. New Orleans doled out 30 dimes and had 13 steals for the matchup. Additionally, the Pelicans pulled down 45 boards (8 offensive, 37 defensive) and earned 7 blocks. New Orleans walked away from this one shooting 50.0% at the charity stripe by burying 10 of 20 tries. They also made 19 of 42 attempts from 3-point land.

Pascal Siakam is a guy who was important in this game. He racked up 20 points on 8 out of 17 shooting. He was on the court for 38:41 minutes played and also pulled down 6 rebounds. Siakam shot 47.1% from the field and dished out 6 assists. Someone else that came through in this contest for the Raptors was Kyle Lowry. He pulled down 2 boards and earned 10 assists. He finished shooting 46.7% from the floor for the matchup by shooting 7-of-15 (18 points). When this game wrapped up, Lowry was on the hardwood for 38:34 minutes.

Toronto will enter this contest after finishing with a record of 53-19 last year. They gave up possession 14.8 times per contest and as a group committed 21.7 fouls per contest. As a unit, Toronto collected 45.4 rebounds per game and totaled 1,816 assists throughout last year, which had them ranked 10th in the NBA in terms of passing. The Raptors hit on 37.4% on three-point shots (995 of 2,663) and 79.6% from the charity stripe. They had an average of 112.8 points per contest (13th in basketball) while connecting on 45.8% from the field. On defense, the Raptors forced their opponents into 16.8 turnovers per game and they drew 20.4 fouls. They were 29th in basketball in giving up assists to their opponents with 1,841 relinquished last season. The Raptors defensively gave up an opponent shooting percentage of 42.8% (2,721 of 6,359) and they surrendered 46.1 boards per game as a squad. They surrendered 33.7% on three-point shots and they ranked 1st in the league in points per game allowed (106.5).

The last time they took the court, the San Antonio Spurs got the win with a final of 131-119 against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Spurs corralled 40 defensive boards and 8 offensive boards totaling 48 for the game. They blocked 8 shots while earning 8 steals for this game. The Grizzlies earned 20 fouls in the matchup which got the Spurs to the free throw line for 29 tries. They were able to knock down 25 of them for a percentage of 86.2%. When it comes to three-point attempts, San Antonio knocked down 10 of 25 attempts (40.0%). When the final whistle blew, the Spurs shot 48 out of 95 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 50.5%. The Spurs allowed the Grizzlies to convert 49 out of their 95 attempts from the field which gave them a percentage of 51.6% for the contest. They shot 37.0% from three-point range by going 10 of 27 and walked away from this one shooting 11 out of 18 at the free throw line (61.1%). Regarding how they attacked the glass, San Antonio permitted Memphis to collect 42 in all (5 on the offensive side).

DeMar DeRozan pitched in for the Spurs for the game. He made 7 of 14 in the matchup giving him a rate of 50.0%, which earned him 28 points. DeRozan pulled down 9 boards in his 34:53 mins of time on the court and totaled 9 dimes for the contest. One more player that was important for San Antonio was Lonnie Walker. He was able to score 16 points in 34:23 minutes played by way of 6 of 9 shooting in the matchup. Walker wrapped this one up going 66.7% from the floor while contributing 2 dimes and 6 boards.

San Antonio had a win-loss record of 32-39 last year. San Antonio earned 8,098 pts last season (114.1 per game) and they collected 44.6 rebounds per game. When it comes to executing on offense, the Spurs connected on 47.2% from the floor, which was ranked 5th in the NBA. The Spurs committed 19.4 personal fouls per game and they shot 81.0% from the charity stripe. They earned an assist 24.7 times per game (13th in basketball) and they lost possession via turnover 12.6 times per contest. The Spurs on defense were ranked 25th in basketball in points allowed per game with 115.2. They were able to force 13.2 TO's per game and allowed teams to shoot 46.9% from the floor (20th in the league). The San Antonio defense allowed 37.3% on shots from behind the 3-point line (931 of 2,493) and opponents connected on 77.7% of their shots from the charity stripe. They gave up 25.7 dimes and 45.3 rebounds on a nightly basis, which was ranked 27th and 17th in those defensive categories.

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Toronto (-1.5)

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