Karpuc’s Favorite NBA Bet For Wednesday's Slate
Season Record: 24-13 (63.9%); Pick For Wednesday, February 9
Dan Karpuc - Feb 9, 2022, 4:15pm ESTThe Pick: Raptors -9.5 at Thunder
The Thunder are one of my favorite teams to back due to their surprising ability to beat the spread consistently, but they’re down too many players to have any confidence in them. OKC will be without leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Aaron Wiggins, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Mike Muscala and Isaiah Roby. Also, it was announced that rookie Josh Giddey would be held under a 30-minute restriction for a number of games moving forward, which will be a limiting factor on their offensive production.
Without the aforementioned players and alongside Giddey, the home team will have to rely on the scoring from Luguentz Dort, Darius Bazley, Tre Mann, Derrick Favors, Kendrich Williams, Ty Jerome, Mamadi Diakite and Theo Maledon. In other words, tanking for the best shot at the No. 1 overall pick begins. It's time to finally start fading the Thunder, as much as it hurts to write.
On the other side, the Raptors are back to full health and have won and covered in four consecutive games. Toronto has gone 13-4-1 ATS over their last 18 games and is getting hot as we get closer to the All-Star break. Coach Nick Nurse understands how wide-open the Eastern Conference is and has been playing his starting five heavy minutes, so expect All-Star Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Gary Trent Jr., OG Anunoby and Scottie Barnes to have a field day offensively.
Backing any team to win by double-digits is risky in today's NBA due to the prevalence of the three-point shot, but this has blowout written all over it. Give me the Raptors -9.5!
