The Phoenix Suns will welcome former NBA champions, the Toronto Raptors, at Footprint Center this Friday. The hosts are sitting in the #1 position in the Western Conference, which is where they will probably stay until the end of the regular season, considering that they have a much better record than teams behind them.
Over in the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Raptors are in the #7 place. If they stay there until the end, they’ll get to play in Round 1 of the postseason. However, if they finish even one spot higher, they will book the ticket to the round of 16. That’s more than enough motivation for this team to try and win as many games as possible before the season wraps up.
That said, you can expect them to give their utmost on Friday. However, it’s a big question whether that’s going to be enough against mighty Suns.
Where and When to Watch
- Date: Friday, March 11
- Time: 9:00 PM EDT
- Location: Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ
- Watch: NBA League Pass
Toronto Wants to Keep on Winning
The Raptors are 35-30 in their conference, meaning that there’s a good chance we’ll see them in the postseason. They would love to get there from one of the top six positions, and to achieve this goal, they need to continue winning.
The Raptors did win their most recent game. On Wednesday evening, they defeated the San Antonio Spurs on the road. However, before that win, they lost three straight games. On the bright side, none of those was a blowout loss.
Phoenix Loves Playing Against this Opponent
The Suns won each of the previous four Toronto vs Phoenix games. In fact, the last time the Raptors beat them was more than two years ago. Knowing this, it’s no surprise that many fans think Phoenix will win again.
Another reason for this is that the Suns have been fantastic throughout the season. They are 53-13 overall, with eight wins more than the second-placed team (Memphis Grizzlies) in the conference. That said, it is very likely the Suns will finish the regular season at the top of the conference table.
To make sure they do, they just need to keep on playing as well as before. What this means is that they need to beat the Raptors on Friday. Still, we probably aren’t going to see them destroy their opponents. Instead, a win by only a couple of points seems like the most probable scenario.
Pick: Phoenix Suns to Win but Not Cover the Spread