Two tanking teams meet at Scotiabank Arena tonight when the Toronto Raptors host the Philadelphia 76ers.
The pregame narrative: Most of the stars are sidelined and both GMs will be rooting for a loss in the press box. But there’s still value to be had in this dumpster-fire of a contest, and I’ve built out a three-leg wager featuring Quentin Grimes and Jamal Shead.
Check out my 76ers vs. Raptors SGP predictions for March 12.
76ers vs. Raptors predictions
Parlay: Sixers +9.5 | Grimes 20+ points | Shead 2+ threes (+350)
Sixers +9.5 (-286): Here is a list of players out on Wednesday:
- RJ Barrett
- Immanuel Quickley
- Gradey Dick
- Jakobe Walter
- Joel Embiid
- Tyrese Maxey
- Paul George
I don’t feel confident backing either team to win with their worst foot forward but do like banking a boatload of points with the road team.
Darko Rajakovic has made a point of resting his starters down the stretch and I don’t expect Jakob Poeltl or Scottie Barnes — who might miss the game with a finger injury — to get meaningful minutes in crunch time.
Toronto has only covered a -9.5 spread twice in its last 18 games and one of those contests was against the bottom-feeding Washington Wizards.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, has covered this line in 15 of its last 20, including once against Toronto.
NBA SGP legs
Grimes 20+ points (-107): Grimes isn’t a household name by any stretch but he’s quietly become a productive player with the 76ers.
The 24-year-old was acquired at the deadline for Caleb Martin and is averaging 20.4 points since he entered the starting lineup on Feb. 12.
And this month, we’ve seen that Grimes can explode as a scorer:
- 44 points vs. Warriors
- 35 points vs. Hawks
- 30 points vs. Timberwolves
- 25 points vs. Jazz
Grimes took a career-high 25 shots his last time out vs. Atlanta and should breeze by this total if his volume is remotely similar. And with all of Philadelphia’s injuries, it should be.
Shead 2+ threes (-114): This should be a good spot for Shead to show us what he’s made of.
The 2024 second-round pick hasn’t been asked to do much this year but is now thrust into a starting role, and has a great matchup.
Philadelphia has the third-worst 3-point defence in the NBA (37.1%) and gives up the most 3s per game to opposing point guards (3.53), per Fantasy Pros.
Shead has canned at least one triple in 14 of 18 games where he’s played 20-plus minutes. He should be looking to attack Philly from beyond the arc tonight.
76ers vs. Raptors predictions made at 2:30 p.m. ET on 03/12/2025.
Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.