The Golden State Warriors will be looking to extend their straight-up win streak on home court to six games Wednesday when they face the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals as 5.5-point favorites on the NBA odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Golden State is coming off a 109-104 win in Game 3 as a 2.5-point road underdog, leaving the series knotted at one game apiece going into Wednesday night’s Raptors vs. Warriors betting matchup at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors opened the series with a 118-109 loss as 1.5-point underdogs, marking the first time the team has suffered a series-opening loss in its six trips to the NBA Finals since 1967.
However, Golden State battled back despite being hobbled by an array of injuries, with guard Klay Thompson (hamstring) questionable for Wednesday and center Kevon Looney (collarbone) done for the series. In addition, two-time reigning NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant has yet to appear in the series after suffering a calf injury in the Warriors’ clash with the Houston Rockets, and won’t play Wednesday night.
Durant was leading the Warriors with 34.2 points per game in 11 postseason appearances prior to his injury, topping 45 points on three occasions, and has averaged 31.7 points in 14 career NBA Finals game appearances.
Now in control of home-court advantage following their Game 2 win on Sunday night, and the return of Durant possibly drawing closer, the Warriors have made up for lost ground on the NBA series prices, where they sit as -270 favorites, just slightly back of the -280 odds they sported going into the series, and well ahead of Toronto’s position as a +220 underdog.
With Sunday’s defeat, the Raptors saw a five-game SU and against the spread streak come to a close. However, Toronto has struggled to find consistency in contests away from Scotiabank Arena during this year’s playoffs, going 2-4 SU in six road games since the end of the first round, according to the OddsShark NBA Database.
Despite their recent struggles, the Raptors have produced steady results in recent dates with the Warriors, going 3-1 SU and 2-2 ATS in four overall meetings this season, including a dominating 113-93 win as 8-point underdogs in a Dec. 12 meeting at Oracle Arena.
However, the Raptors will be hard pressed to stop a Warriors attack that has dominated on home hardwood in recent trips to the NBA Finals, with wins in six straight by an average margin of 13.2 points per game, and an 8-3 SU overall record in 11 home dates in the NBA Finals since 2015.
