- The Toronto Raptors defeated the Houston Rockets 139-120 on Thursday night.
- Toronto is now and NBA-best 9-2 ATS when playing the second leg of a back-to-back schedule.
- The Raptors are now 31-23 SU on th season and in 6th place in the Eastern Conference team standings.
The Toronto Raptors won for the 8th consecutive time on Thursday, defeating the Houston Rockets 139-120 at the Toyota Center.
With the win, Toronto now has the longest current active winning streak in the NBA and they have also covered the betting spread in their last eight games played.
Gary Trent J. Exploded for 42 Points
Gary Trent Jr. EXPLODED for 42 PTS and added 5 STL to extend the @Raptors win streak to 8! #WeTheNorth
Gary Trent Jr: 42 PTS, 5 STL, 6 3PM
Pascal Siakam: 30 PTS, 4 AST pic.twitter.com/KJtf6zbVWo— NBA (@NBA) February 11, 2022
Gary Trent Jr. exploded for a season-best 42 points against the Rockets in the best offensive performance of his NBA career since scoring a career-high 44 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers last April. It was also the 7th 30+ points game for Trent Jr. this season and he didn’t need the second half to cash in on his game prop bet of 21.5 points as he already had 25 at halftime.
Pascal Siakam also scored 26 points in the first half, making him and Trent Jr. only the third pair of teammates since 1997-98 to score 25 points each in the first half. The only other pairs to accomplish the feat were Th Splash Brothers and James Harden & Chandler Parsons. Siakam finished with 30 points for his 6th 30+ point game of the season.
The big games from Trent Jr. and Siakam compensated for the absence of recently-named All-Star Fred Van Vleet who sat out the game with left groin soreness. Chris Boucher added 16 points off the bench for the Raptors who continue to climb the standings with their solid performances since the start of the new year. Toronto was 14-17 at the end of 2021.
Raptors Best ATS Team in Second Leg of Back-to-Backs
The Raptors are a NBA best 8-2 ATS on the 2nd leg of back-to-backs and have covered 7 straight
Raptors -7 @ Rockets
Odds via @BSSportsbook pic.twitter.com/3P4qC5btfD
— Bets Stats (@betsstats) February 10, 2022
The Raptors entered Thursday’s game against the Houston Rockets with an NBA-best 8-2 ATS record when playing the second game of a back-to-back schedule. With the 19-point win over the Rockets as -7 point favorites at the best NBA sportsbooks, the Raptors have further improved that mark at 9-2 ATS or a cover rate of 81.8% when playing the second leg of back-to-backs.
During such instances, the Raptors have an ATS plus/minus of +7.4 points per game, also the best in the NBA under such circumstances. The second-best ATS Team in the second leg of back-to-backs are the Memphis Grizzlies who are 7-3 ATS in such games or a cover rate of 70% and an ATS plus/minus of +1.3.
Overall, the Raptors are 32-21-1 ATS on the season or a cover rate of 60.4% and an ATS plus/minus of 1.8 points per game. That makes Toronto the 4th best ATS team in the NBA this season, behind only the Memphis Grizzlies (38-19), Cleveland Cavaliers (33-19-3), and Oklahoma City Thunder (32-19-3). More importantly, the Raptors are now one game ahead of the Boston Celtics for the 6th spot and four games back of the Miami Heat for the top spot in the Eastern Conference team standings.
