How the public is betting Raptors vs. Nets first-round playoff series

The Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets open their first-round series on Monday, August 17th 4:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Raptors will look to defend their title after losing Kawhi Leonard over the offseason to the Clippers. We’ll take a look at how the public is betting Game 1 of the series and beyond.

The defending champs are favorites to win this series by a wide margin in this one at -5000 on DraftKings Sportsbook. The Raptors were limited by injuries throughout the 2019-20, but are mostly healthy ahead of the start of the postseason. OG Anunoby and Serge Ibaka are both dealing with some minor knee pain, but Toronto still has two All-Stars at its disposal in Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam to match up against the Nets’ skeleton crew. Toronto commands 92 percent of the handle and 82 percent of the total bets against the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed.

The Nets are at a major disadvantage because of their lack of depth and will depend on Caris LeVert for most of their scoring and distribution. Ibaka, Marc Gasol, and others will make things tough on Brooklyn defensively, as Jarrett Allen appears to be Brooklyn’s only viable post player at this point in the season. The underdog’s odds of winning this series are +1400, so it makes since that the public isn’t backing Brooklyn. The Nets only command 8 percent of the handle and 18 percent of the total bets.

Here’s the rest of the schedule for Raptors-Nets in the first round:

Game 1: Mon, Aug 17 Brooklyn at Toronto, 4 ET, ESPN
Game 2: Wed, Aug 19 Brooklyn at Toronto, 1:30 ET, NBATV
Game 3: Fri, Aug 21 Toronto at Brooklyn, 1:30 ET, NBATV
Game 4: Sun, Aug 23 Toronto at Brooklyn, 6:30 ET, TNT
Game 5*: Tue, Aug 25 Brooklyn at Toronto, TBD, TBD
Game 6*: Thu, Aug 27 Toronto at Brooklyn, TBD, ESPN
Game 7*: Sat, Aug 29 Brooklyn at Toronto, TBD, TNT

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