Betting on NBA games at an online sportsbook but don’t know which game to choose? How about the Toronto Raptors versus the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, January 20th at the Spectrum Center? Sounds like basketball gambling fun.
Toronto Raptors upset
The Toronto Raptors were upset by the Sixers on Wednesday. Toronto saw a four-game winning streak come to an end, as well as their dominance of the Atlantic division. It was certainly not the regular season debut the returning Jared Sullinger would have hoped for, but at the very least he’s back on a basketball court. He had eight points in a little under 14 minutes off the bench. Like Dante Hicks, Sullinger wasn’t even supposed to be there last night, but the Raptors roster is thinning at an alarming rate. Patrick Patterson has missed four games with a knee injury.
Injury Report and more
Lucas Nogueira is on concussion protocol. DeMarre Carroll left the game with an injured neck. Sullinger’s return seems to be in perfect sync to cover for Patterson, and Terrence Ross and Norman Powell can make up for Carroll in a pinch. But Nogueira brings something to the table that no other Raptor does, and that is rim protection. Coach Dwane Casey looked inwardly to account for the unexpected basketball gambling upset. “(The 76ers are) a good team, they’ve been playing well, no disrespect to them, but we missed a lot of wide-open shots.” In fact, DeMar DeRozan went 0-6 in the first quarter, Carroll finished 0-6 before his injury, and Ross was 3 of 10 and 2 of 7 from the three-point arc.
Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets, whom fans betting on NBA games were becoming accustomed to see lose, snapped a five-game losing streak at the expense of the downcast Blazers. Charlotte went back to basics; aggressive D, key performances from key players, and support from the bench. Case in point, Kemba Walker scored 23 points – his 29th 20-point game of the season – and reserve Roy ‘Dr.’ Hibbert added 16. In fact, with the exception of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the fourth quarter was all bench for the Hornets. Charlotte’s bench outscored Portland’s, 44-22, with three Hornets scoring in double digits (Hibbert, Marco Belinelli, and Frank Kaminsky). All things considered, it seemed as if the reserves could no wrong; even an intended alley-oop missed Belinelli but nonetheless found its way into the basket.
Hey, that’s not what Jackie Moon had in mind when he invented the alley-oop. The defense also did its share, holding the 9th best offense in the league to fewer than 100 points – the first time they achieve that in eight games. Not too shabby for a defense that allowed 109.6 points per contest during a five game road trip. Apparently, spending Wednesday morning watching cutups of defensive miscues over the past five road games paid off for the Hornets. Charlotte is back to .500 but it remains to be seen whether the momentum – and the Raptors’ surprising misstep – can in turn persuade fans betting on NBA games to put their basketball gambling money on Charlotte.