TEAMWORK trumps STARDOM: Raptors over Giannis

Toronto is the best team in the East right now, and it's bc they've assembled a fantastic team of doers and overachievers-- on the cheap too. Somehow Masai Ujiri has the patience of a thousand spiders, and he's woven quite a web these days. Only true team-work afficianados can appreciate what he's built, as his team is generally "starless" in a great Larry Brown Pistons sorta-way. Not that Lowry and DeRozan and Valaciunas aren't dynamite basketball players, but more accurately they aren't sports-media darlings so Toronto continues to be underrated even when topping out the Eastern Division.
Bet them to crush the exact opposite of their team, a now-popular Bucks team featuring the most exciting man in basketball: Giannis Antetokunmpo. Don't get us wrong, we loves us some Greak Freak, he's legit. But he's young and his team isn't fully gelled nor is it a complete team like Toronto who has depth coming out of their depth. Here's why we like Toronto moneyline tonite:

#1 Toronto is better by 6 points
Yep, the line is 7.5, so don't get TOO excited about this one, but we believe Toronto at home for moneyline is solid bet, albeit we understand you're not getting fair odds here. It's odd, right? Toronto should be favored less since everyone loves the Giannis story, but Toronto has been TOO hot lately to ignore, and the media is finally starting to come around to how good they really are. Toronto should pull this one out they way they pull out a LOT of tough games, with their bench. VanVleet and Delon Wright and Jakob Poeltl are too much for most 2nd units, and that dichotomy should be on full display tonite as we really don't love Milwaukee's bench on an average night.

#2 Home
Toronto has best home record in the NBA at 24-4. Bucks are 13-15 away. Really it's that simple. Frankly, this aspect is probably why the line favors Milwaukee too much.

#3 Honest Abe
We love betting on Toronto, as they always seem to put out a full effort. Rarely if ever do we feel a game might be "Paul Crewed" when Toronto plays, and this shows up in their stellar record year-in and year-out. This year is no different, and we'd as fans LOVE to see them with a #1 ranking in the East this year. So would they?

#4 Organization
Toronto makes great moves, like sitting on their hands most of the time and just making draft picks count. Or even better, cutting bait when they make a mistake (Carroll was not the right FIT for DeRozan and Lowry).
Whereas Milwaukee made one tremendous gold-strike in Giannis but have floundered nearly all other transactions.

Why we might be wrong...

A. You've heard of this Antetokunmpo right?
Yeah, he sometimes takes over games, or at least that's what the legends say. He's on full rest from All-Star break. Who KNOWS what he's capable. Luckily Toronto has great defenders so they will make life tough on the every-position-player who is the REAL unicorn in the NBA.

B. Any Given Sunday...
Sometimes shooting just doesn't go your way.

We are recommending a 2.0% AUM bet on this game. It's small-ish bc we are betting WITH the pack on this one, and the odds (-330) SHOULD be more favorable, thus reducing our bet size.

Best of luck to all Steemians!