After Sunday night’s victory in Toronto, the Golden State Warriors will look to gain a 2-1 advantage in the 2019 NBA Finals when they host Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors for Game 3, tipping at 9 p.m. ET at Oracle Arena on Wednesday. It was all Toronto in Game 1, a 118-109 Raptors win. They led at halftime of Game 2 before Steph Curry and the Warriors exploded for an 18-0 run on the way to a 109-104 win. Now Golden State holds the home-court advantage in the 2019 NBA Finals as it seeks to be the first three-peat champion since the 2000-02 Lakers. Kevin Durant (calf) will miss Game 3, and oddsmakers now have Golden State as a 4.5-point favorite in the latest Warriors vs. Raptors odds, down half a point from the opening line. The over-under, or total points Vegas thinks will be scored, is set at 213. Injuries are a big concern in this series, so before making any Warriors vs. Raptors picks or NBA Finals 2019 predictions, you need to see what the SportsLine Projection Model has to say.
The model, which simulates every game 10,000 times, is crushing its NBA picks. It entered the 2019 NBA Finals with a sterling record on its top-rated picks, returning more than $3,000 in profit to anybody following them this season. And it has been particularly red-hot on its A-rated NBA money line picks, entering the 2019 NBA Finals on a strong 85-61 run. Anybody who has followed it is way up.
Now the model has honed in on Game 3 of Warriors vs. Raptors. We can tell you it is leaning over, and it says one side of the spread hits in well over 50 percent of simulations. That pick is available only at SportsLine.
The model knows Curry and Klay Thompson, who is questionable for Game 3 with a hamstring injury, have taken turns being unguardable for the Warriors. They combined for 55 points in Game 1 and 48 in Game 2. How the Raptors handle them — if they can handle them — is to be determined.
But when Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins get going, Golden State is all but impossible to beat. In Game 1, Toronto’s front court dominated Golden State’s, outscoring it by a ridiculous 75-18 margin. In Game 2, Green and Cousins combined for 28 points, 20 rebounds and 15 assists.
But just because Golden State won Game 2 and is now back home does not guarantee it will win or cover the Warriors vs. Raptors spread in Game 3 on Wednesday.
After holding down the Warriors for the Game 1 win, the Raptors looked like the better team at halftime of Game 2 before the wheels came off and Golden State went on an 18-0 run to open the third quarter.
But it took some far-below-average efforts from several of Toronto’s standouts for Golden State to hold on. Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol combined to score 34 fewer points in Game 2, and Kyle Lowry has yet to get going at all, averaging just 10 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in this series. If that trio plays to season averages, and Leonard — who had 34 points and 14 rebounds in Game 2 — does his thing, Toronto should be confident in a Game 3 bounce back.
The Raptors also had the third-best road record in the NBA and the Warriors have covered just once in their last nine games following a spread win. And there are plenty of injury concerns for Golden State. Kevon Looney is likely done for the series. Thompson might be able to play through the pain, but will likely be less than 100 percent if he does go, and Durant won’t be back until Game 4 at the earliest.
So who wins Game 3 of Raptors vs. Warriors? And which side of the spread hits in well over 50 percent of simulations? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Raptors vs. Warriors spread to jump on, all from the advanced model that returned more than $3,000 on top-rated NBA picks this season.
