Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Vegas Play of the Day: Miami Heat at Toronto Raptors

Kyle Lowry

Alan Diaz / AP

Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic (7) takes control of a loose ball from Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) on Saturday, May 7, 2016, during the first half.

We’ve entered the fourth season of the annual South Point-lined Play of the Day competition, effective July 1.

Starting bankrolls have reset to $10,000, with the maximum bet being to win $1,000 and the minimum wager $300. Ray Brewer won back-to-back titles in the 2015-2016 and 2016-17 seasons, after Taylor Bern prevailed in 2014-2015.

Miami Heat plus-4 at Toronto Raptors: $330 to win $300

The Heat have gotten healthier, and therefore, the Heat have gotten better. They’ve won their last four outright and look to be in a good position to add another tonight in Toronto.

That’s because the Raptors are not healthy. Not fully anyway.

Kyle Lowry will miss tonight’s game after injuring his back in a hard fall during a 114-113 overtime win in Brooklyn Monday night. Even though DeMar DeRozan has long passed Lowry as Toronto’s biggest star and leading scorer, the veteran point guard is arguably the team’s most valuable player.

Playing on a back-to-back is always a challenge, let alone when the first game goes to overtime on the road and results in the loss of a starter. Toronto has been great this season and sits second in the league in point differential.

But anecdotally, that doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. The Raptors seem to have a good first half to the season every year before falling slightly back in the pack as the year stretches on.

It might be time to start fading them.

Granger (14-9, $13,319), Brewer (22-18, $10,910), Keefer (18-18-1, $9,781), Grimala (8-13, $5,785)

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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