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The Washington Wizards will host the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night in Game 4 of this Eastern Conference first round matchup, with the Raptors currently leading 2-1 after both teams won their home games.
The Wizards (43-39, 23-18 home in the regular season) weren`t high on confidence before Game 3, having barely made the playoffs and having lost the first two games in Toronto. The team wasn`t looking very good, but the Wizards pulled themselves together and had a very solid Game 3, dominating the Raptors and winning 122-103 in rather surprising fashion. They will surely hope to pull of another win at home in Game 4, otherwise their chances to advance will become close to nonexistent.
The Raptors (59-23, 25-16 away in the regular season) were probably thinking about a sweep after winning the first two in Toronto, and maybe that is why they did not look good at all in Game 3. They lacked intensity and after getting an early lead, they were second best for the rest of the game. It didn`t help that they made 18 turnovers, and that Kyle Lowry had a very quiet night.
Bet on Wizards vs. Raptors and claim your 100% (100 Eur) freebet at Ohmbet now!Team news: There`s nothing new in terms of team news. Washington will continue to miss Meeks, while VanVleet (played just 3 minutes in the series) will be a game time decision yet again for Toronto.
The Wizards were hands down the better team in Game 3, and they will be dangerous again in Game 4 given the fact that they have home court advantage. However, their good play would have probably not been enough if the Raptors weren`t so soft.
The Raptors, who are the better team, had an off day in Game 3 and did not play with focus and intensity – allowing the Wizards to get all kinds of easy baskets, and turning the ball over too much. These were without a doubt lapses in concentration, and should be fixed in Game 4. Washington is likely to face a much tighter defense and shouldn`t get as many easy opportunities, something which will change the entire complexity of the match.
The Raptors could afford to lose one road game and maybe that`s why they came out with lack of focus in Game 3. But now they have to win this if they don`t want to get dragged into a long battle against an inferior opponent in the first round, something which could hurt them later on in the playoffs.
Look for the Wizards to be competitive again at home, but a more focused and determined Raptors side should have too much consistency for Washington. Toronto is a team which doesn`t have two bad games in a row, proof of that being the fact that they lost consecutive games only once since mid – January!
My tip on this Game 4 will be the Raptors to win and cover the -1.5 point handicap, and a stake of 8 units seems like a proper one on this bet as per my analysis. At the moment, the point spread is slowly moving towards 2.5 points. Prediction: Washington Wizards – Toronto Raptors 104 – 114.
Pick: Raptors -1,5
Odds: 1.91 @ William Hill
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.28
Event date: 22 April
