If you’re looking for an NBA game that has been affected by circumstances surrounding the coronavirus, you’ve found it.

One of the teams playing in our Sunday special has been without its star player almost the whole season because of COVID, and they have felt it in a big way. The other team hasn’t been home at all; and for a while they looked shipwrecked like those people on “Gilligan’s Island.”

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But we see some value in this matchup, and perhaps you can take advantage of it at America’s Bookie.

Minnesota Timberwolves at Toronto Raptors Picks

Timberwolves vs. Raptors Betting Report

Tip-off: 7:05 PM ET (Sunday)

NBA Basketball Odds: Raptors -8.5, Total 229.5

It is often the case that an NBA player, if tested positive for COVID-19, will sit out a bit, try to test negative a few times, and then get back out on the floor. But as far as Karl-Anthony Towns is concerned, he was among those most severely affected.

And as a result, he has played in just six games this season. Now he is back in the lineup (for the last two games), and made his presence felt the other night against Charlotte, with 25 points and eight rebounds. Should we expect that he is back into the swing of things?

Sunday night’s absence is D’Angelo Russell, who missed Friday’s game with a leg injury as well. Russell is perhaps Minnesota’s best three-point shooter, but Malik Beasley, the fourth-year man out of Florida State, picked up the slack with seven triples on his way to 31 points.

With Russell and Ricky Rubio on the same roster and ostensibly playing point guard, you have an interesting mix of the “me first” guy and the genuine play-maker. And then you have to add Anthony Edwards, the first pick in the draft, who has been steadily coming on, with more than 16 points per game in his last nine contests.

Minnesota sits with the worst record in the NBA right now. But they are 12-13-1 against the spread, and have covered six of their last eight games.

No team has seen its opponents attempt fewer three-pointers than this T-Wolves side. And what’s interesting from the standpoint of some of the metrics we’ve looked at is that while it isn’t recognized as much of a defensive team, Minnesota isn’t so horrible when it comes to the shooting rate it allows on threes or twos. Not great, but not horrible either.

Toronto throws up more triples than any other team in the NBA; they are one of only four teams that attempts at least 40 per contest. They stumbled out of the gate, losing six of their first seven, but have climbed back into possible playoff position since then. And they are 6-6 in their temporary home – the Amelie Arena in Tampa.

They have just returned from a six-game road trip and set out for three more road games after this, but when you think about it, it’s ALL a road trip for them. Those digs actually haven’t been so bad; the Raptors are one of a handful of NBA teams that can have fans.

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Minnesota plays at such a pace that it has been able to put up the second most shots in the NBA. at 43.9%, they are not sharp-shooters either. But with Towns, a skilled inside player who can also pop fro the outside, in the lineup on a more consistent basis, they’re going to improve. And we assume that coach Ryan Saunders (son of ex-Wolves GM and coach Flip) sees Edwards getting a little out of control, he’ll yank him.

The question we have before us is whether the Timberwolves can do enough to stay close in this game.

On the road they managed to beat Utah in the early part of the season, but they were also beaten pretty handily after that, losing their next seven on the road by an average of over 18 points.

However, of late they have been more competitive as a traveler, losing by margins of two, three, five and six points and beating Oklahoma City. That’s progress, right?

Having Russell out may or may not be a good thing here. Having Towns IN is much more important. Yes,we’ll take the points.

The Play: MINNESOTA +8.5