Will the Raptors Over Trend Keep Up Friday vs. Jazz?
By Reed Wallach
The Toronto Raptors played the entire 2020-2021 season in Tampa Bay, Florida due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions in Canada last season, but made their return this season to the always raucous ScotiaBank Stadium.
After starting this season at full capacity, restrictions amidst the rising cases in Canada led to the team limiting only 1,000 fans into the stands, which has brought back an interesting trend, albeit over a small sample size.
Three games since the limit of fans in Toronto and the Over is 3-0 so far. It’s a short sample size obviously, have to keep monitoring it. https://t.co/KotBywDhb1
— Jonathan Von Tobel (@meJVT) January 5, 2022
Last season, scoring was up across the league in front of no fans or limited ones, and has since dropped back down partly due to full stadiums once again. Of course, there are rule changes this season that have allowed for more physical defense, but it's clear that certain players have seen their scoring dip in front of more fans.
Back to the Raptors, the only team that has limited their capacity this season. The team has gone over in all three of their games since they reimplemented restrictions and are home against the Utah Jazz, one of the best offenses in the league, but they will be without their full roster.
The total for this matchup is 221 at WynnBET Sportsbook while the Raptors are 11.5-point favorites against the shorthanded Jazz. Rudy Gobert entered Health and Safety Protocols on Thursday night, while the team could be without Donovan Mitchell, who has been battling a back injury.
It will be an interesting change of pace to see how team's react to the smaller crowds in Toronto for the foreseeable future, but for now, it's led to a ton of scoring.