NBA Betting Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Toronto Raptors Game 4 Odds

The Toronto Raptors handed the Cleveland Cavaliers their first postseason loss, 99-84, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday as six-point home underdogs.

The Raptors are again six-point underdogs at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark for Game 4 on Monday, and they will try to use the same successful blueprint in an effort to even the series at 2-2 heading back to Cleveland.

Toronto dominated the glass with a 54-40 rebounding margin and fed off the raucous crowd at the Air Canada Centre to earn its first victory since topping the Miami Heat there in Game 7 of the previous round.

Led by Bismack Biyombo’s franchise playoff-record 26 rebounds, the Raptors dominated the Cavs inside, holding Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson to a combined three points and 12 rebounds.

The odds of Love and Thompson repeating that dismal performance seem slim, though, especially since they combined to make only one of 10 shots from the field. Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving was also awful, converting three of his 19 shots, including one of seven from three-point range, en route to scoring 13 points.

Irving took two more shots than LeBron James and had averaged 26.5 points in the first two games of the series.

Toronto’s Kyle Lowry helped hold Irving in check and scored a series-high 20 points after averaging just nine in the first two games. Lowry averaged 35.5 points in Games 6 and 7 versus the Heat and made four of eight shots from beyond the three-point arc in Game 3 against the Cavs following a 1-for-15 stretch in Cleveland.

DeMar DeRozan scored a series-high 32 points on 12-of-24 shooting to lead the team offensively.

The Raptors have now won their last three at home straight up and against the spread both head-to-head versus Cleveland and overall, according to the Odds Shark NBA Database.

The only thing the Cavaliers did better in Game 3 was get to the free-throw line, drawing the ire of Toronto head coach Dwane Casey, who was fined $25,000 for criticizing the officials.

Cleveland made 14 of 16 free throws compared to 11 of 13 for the home team, which has been called for 27 more fouls through the first three games.