The Toronto Raptors currently have a 14 game winning streak (a franchise record) heading into their game Monday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario. The Raptors, who are at 39 wins and 14 losses, are currently 9.5 point favourites to extend their streak to 15 games.
However, before putting money on Toronto, remember that the Raptors have not really been blowing teams out of the water recently. Since the streak began on January 15 in a 130-121 Raptors win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Toronto has had to squeak out a few victories against opponents they should easily beat.
On January 22 in an afternoon game between the Raptors and Atlanta Hawks, Toronto was actually losing 60-57 at the half to one of the worst teams in the NBA before winning 122-117. They then only beat the New York Knicks 118-112 on January 24, the San Antonio Spurs 110-106 on January 26 and Cleveland Cavaliers 115-109 on January 30.
In the last two Raptors wins at home, both games have come down to the very end before Toronto was able to squeak out a one point victory. In fact, both games saw Toronto pull out a 119-118 win. On January 25, Toronto beat the Indiana Pacers and on Saturday, the Raptors beat the Brooklyn Nets.
The Raptors will face a new look Timberwolves team on Monday that recently acquired D’Angelo Russell from the Golden State Warriors. It will be interesting to see if Russell will make his Timberwolves debut on Monday. He has been out recently with a right quad contusion. Expect the Raptors to win. However, if the Timberwolves have Russell in the lineup, they could definitely cover the 9.5 point spread, even though they have a record of 16 wins and 35 losses.
Minnesota is also entering the game with a little bit of momentum. They saw their 13 game losing streak come to an end on Saturday with a shocking 142-115 upset win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
