Raptors vs Hornets Picks and Predictions: Raptors Offense Stings Slumping Hornets

The Toronto Raptors are on a pretty remarkable run, winning five straight games, taking down some of the Eastern Conference’s top contenders, all the while playing with an extremely short rotation. 

They will look to keep roaring when they visit the high-flying Charlotte Hornets on Monday night. Can they cover the spread as short road chalk, or do the Hornets provide value on the moneyline as a live home dog?

Find out in our free NBA betting picks and predictions for Raptors vs. Hornets on February 7.

Raptors vs Hornets odds

This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.

The Raptors opened this Eastern Conference matchup as 3-point road faves but it’s the Hornets are seeing the early money, moving the line to 2. The total hit the board at 225 and the early action was on the Over, bumping the number up to 226 but since then, Under money has brought the Over/Under down to 224.5.

Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right until tip-off and be sure to check out the full NBA odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.

Raptors vs Hornets predictions

• Prediction: Raptors -2 (-110)
• Prediction: Over 224.5 (-110)
• Best bet: Gary Trent Jr. Over 3.5 made threes (-125)

Predictions made on 2/7/2022 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.

Raptors vs Hornets game info

• Location: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC
• Date: Monday, February 7, 2022
• Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. ET
• TV: TSN, Bally Sports Southeast

Raptors vs Hornets betting preview

Key injuries

Raptors: No key injuries to report.
Hornets: No key injuries to report.
Find our latest NBA injury reports.

Betting trend to know

The Over is 4-1 in the Raptors’ last five games overall and 5-1-1 in the Hornets’ last seven games against a team with a winning straight-up record. Find more NBA betting trends for Raptors vs. Hornets.

Raptors vs Hornets picks and predictions

Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.

Spread analysis

The Raptors are on a remarkable run. They have won five in a row, including four games in five days last week against some of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. All while basically playing just five dudes for the huge majority of those minutes. As a result, the Raptors now sit in sixth place in the East. They’ll look to continue that climb when they take on the Hornets.

The Hornets, on the other hand, have seen some of the buzz surrounding this team start to wear off. Charlotte has dropped four games in a row and six of eight, going 2-6 ATS in the process. That includes a 125-113 loss to this same Raptors team back on Jan. 25.

The offense has carried the Hornets all season, but outside of an outburst against a spiraling Pacers team, that offense has dropped off of late, ranking 25th in offensive rating over that eight-game stretch. That doesn’t bode well when your team ranks 24th in defensive rating at the same time. 

The Raptors are basically going through the opposite transition. An offense, led by now All-Star Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and the red-hot Gary Trent Jr., is finally starting to settle in and catch up to a tenacious Raptors’ defense. In fact, Toronto ranks 10th in offensive rating since the start of 2022. 

Both the Hornets and Raptors have several players who can hurt you on offense, but the Raptors are consistently better on defense and are playing better basketball at the moment. Lean towards laying with the Raps as short favorites.

Prediction: Raptors -2 (-110)

Over/Under analysis

When it comes to the total, this is a high number for the Raptors. The highest since a Jan. 4 meeting with the Spurs. But Toronto has seen high totals each of the last two games and has gone over in each. And the Over/Under for the previous meeting with the Hornets was a similar 221 and that game cruised Over by 17 points.

A big reason for this is that the Raptors' offense is humming. Over the Raptors’ last seven games they rank ninth in offensive rating while scoring 117.4 points per game. And we’ve already talked about how they can hurt you in a multitude of ways, especially against a Hornets defense with so many holes it resembles a beehive.

Concurrently, the Hornets may be in a slump, but this is a young and talented offense and can bust out of it at a moment’s notice. For the season, they rank 10th in offensive rating and second in scoring offense.

More importantly, they are an excellent 3-point shooting team ranking seventh in shooting percentage from distance. That helps here because while the Raptors play an aggressive style on defense, that aggression can lead to some open 3-point opportunities for opponents. So, we’re leaning Over here.

Prediction: Over 224 (-110)

Best bet

One of the reasons the Raptors offense has been so dangerous lately is that almost any one of their starters can go for 20-plus points on a given night. This season, we’ve gotten used to VanVleet doing his thing, and Siakam looks better than he has in years. But it’s Gary Trent Jr. who has looked unstoppable lately. 

Trent is shooting 48.4% from beyond the arc on 10.1 attempts per game over his last nine. Trent has also hit four or more threes six times over that stretch and has never hit fewer than three in a game. 

Now, he faces a Hornets team that has trouble when it comes to defending the perimeter. The Hornets allow the second-most 3-point attempts per game in the NBA while ranking 23rd in opponent 3-point shooting percentage. 

The Hornets also allowed Trent to go 5-10 from downtown in the meeting just a few weeks ago. We like him to keep letting it fly in this one.

Pick: Gary Trent Jr. Over 3.5 made threes (-125)

Pages related to this topic