← Forecasts for Mar 23

2024-25 · Regular Season · Final

San Antonio Spurs at Toronto Raptors

Sunday, March 23, 2025 · tip-off time not recorded

SAS 1–0@TOR 1–1 records going into the game NBA.com recap ↗

Win probability as a share of the court: SAS 46 percent, TOR 54 percent. SAS Spurs 46% proj. 114 · final 123 TOR Raptors · home 54% proj. 115 · final 89
Each team's share of the floor is its pregame win probability. The line starts at midcourt and moves to the split.

Forecast and result

TeamProjectedFinalDifference
SAS San Antonio Spurs 114 123 +9
TOR Toronto Raptors (home) 115 89 −26

Forecast: Toronto Raptors to win, 54% win probability, projected margin 1.

Inside the Forecast

How the inputs are built
What the model received
InputSASTOR
Elo ratingMargin-of-victory Elo; 1500 is average. 14241395
Elo gap, home minus road, incl. home court +42
Season scoring marginPoints per game, blended with last season early in the year. −1.9−5.1
Games played this season 7170
Offensive rating, last 10Points scored per 100 possessions. 124.1111.1
Defensive rating, last 10Points allowed per 100 possessions; lower is better. 125.2110.7
Combined pace, last 10Possessions per game, both teams. 100.0
Rotation points missingPoints per game of rotation players listed Out or Doubtful. 19.849.7
Rest days 23
Second night of a back-to-back NoNo

This forecast can't be broken down exactly: the model version that made this forecast is not available. Explanations are shown only when the model that made a forecast can be rebuilt and reproduces it. How explanations are checked

Built from the box scores

How the breakdowns work

Where each input came from. Open a row to see the games and box-score stats behind it. A breakdown is shown only when rebuilding it from the stored stats gives exactly the number the model received.

Elo ratingSAS1424TOR1395

Updated after every game from the final score only: wins, losses and margin. Each season starts by keeping 75% of last season's distance from the 1500 average.

SAS1424

1500
  1. Ended last season at 1400 → started this one at 1425
  2. First 61 games: −3.9
  3. Last 10 games: +3.1
  • WBKN127–113+7.1
  • L@SAC109–127−6.9
  • L@MIN124–141−4.2
  • LDAL129–133−7.0
  • WDAL126–116+9.8
  • LCHA134–145−21.3
  • WNOP119–115+3.9
  • L@LAL109–125−4.3
  • WNYK120–105+20.6
  • WPHI128–120+5.4

TOR1395

1500
  1. Ended last season at 1301 → started this one at 1350
  2. First 60 games: +33.3
  3. Last 10 games: +11.9
  • W@ORL104–102+6.9
  • W@ORL114–113+5.5
  • WUTA118–109+6.0
  • LWAS117–118−7.5
  • WWAS119–104+5.8
  • WPHI118–105+8.2
  • W@UTA126–118+9.0
  • L@POR102–105−3.3
  • L@PHX89–129−17.1
  • L@GSW114–117−1.6
Season scoring marginSAS−1.9TOR−5.1

Points scored minus points allowed per game this season, mixed with last season's margin until 20 games are played.

SAS−1.9

Scores 114.7, allows 116.6 over 71 games: −1.9 a game.

TOR−5.1

Scores 110.7, allows 115.8 over 70 games: −5.1 a game.

Offensive rating, last 10SAS124.1TOR111.1

Points scored per 100 possessions. Split into the four factors: right of center helps the team, left hurts, in points per 100 possessions compared with the league average (2024-25 to date: 113.6).

SAS124.1scored, +10.6 vs league

FactorSASLeaguehurtshelpsPts
Shooting (eFG%)59.6%54.3%+8.0
Turnovers (TOV%)11.1%12.1%+1.4
Offensive rebounding (OREB%)32.9%25.2%+3.5
Free throws (FTM per FGA)0.1670.194−0.8
Everything else−1.6

TOR111.1scored, −2.4 vs league

FactorTORLeaguehurtshelpsPts
Shooting (eFG%)50.2%54.3%−6.2
Turnovers (TOV%)12.9%12.1%−1.2
Offensive rebounding (OREB%)34.6%25.2%+4.2
Free throws (FTM per FGA)0.2270.194+1.0
Everything else−0.2
Defensive rating, last 10SAS125.2TOR110.7

Points allowed per 100 possessions, built from what opponents did in those games. Bars point right when the defense held opponents below average. Split into the four factors: right of center helps the team, left hurts, in points per 100 possessions compared with the league average (2024-25 to date: 113.6).

SAS125.2allowed, +11.6 vs league

FactorOpponentsLeaguehurtshelpsPts
Shooting (eFG%)61.1%54.3%−10.2
Turnovers (TOV%)11.7%12.1%−0.6
Offensive rebounding (OREB%)23.8%25.2%+0.6
Free throws (FTM per FGA)0.1810.194+0.3
Everything else−1.8

TOR110.7allowed, −2.9 vs league

FactorOpponentsLeaguehurtshelpsPts
Shooting (eFG%)51.8%54.3%+3.9
Turnovers (TOV%)12.5%12.1%+0.6
Offensive rebounding (OREB%)26.8%25.2%−0.7
Free throws (FTM per FGA)0.2310.194−1.1
Everything else+0.3
Pace, last 10average 100.0

Possessions per 48 minutes. The model uses the average of the two teams. Faster games mean more points for both sides, so pace mostly moves the projected total, not the margin.

SAS 98.9 and TOR 101.1 → average 100.0 (league 2024-25 to date: 99.7)

Rotation points missingSAS19.8TOR49.7

Points per game of rotation players (two or more of the last 10 games this season, 15+ minutes) listed Out or Doubtful on the official injury report.

SAS19.8pts/g missing

PlayerPtsMinGames
De'Aaron Fox19.832.55

Source: official injury report, 2025-03-23 17:30 ET. 9 rotation players.

TOR49.7pts/g missing

PlayerPtsMinGames
Immanuel Quickley20.628.97
Jakob Poeltl16.723.96
A.J. Lawson12.526.010

Source: official injury report, 2025-03-23 17:30 ET. 13 rotation players.

RestSAS2 daysTOR3 days

Days since the team's previous game, capped at 5. One day means the second night of a back-to-back.

SAS2days

Last played Mar 21 against PHI.

TOR3days

Last played Mar 20 against GSW.

The last 10 games behind these numbers, box-score totals

SAS

DateOppScoreFG3PFTTOVOREBOffDefPace
Mar 21PHI128–12047-8919-3915-18149123.1116.5103.5
Mar 19NYK120–10545-9016-3514-201315126.3109.495.5
Mar 17@LAL109–12541-8815-3812-14179110.1123.8100.0
Mar 15NOP119–11539-8416-3925-33108119.0115.0100.0
Mar 14CHA134–14548-9521-4617-221317136.7146.598.5
Mar 12DAL126–11650-9411-3515-161613122.3114.9102.0
Mar 10DAL129–13349-9417-4114-24912131.6135.798.0
Mar 9@MIN124–14147-8511-3019-241211125.3142.499.0
Mar 7@SAC109–12740-8716-4213-2379116.0133.794.5
Mar 4BKN127–11352-9518-395-101313130.9114.198.0

TOR

DateOppScoreFG3PFTTOVOREBOffDefPace
Mar 20@GSW114–11744-7811-2615-19237110.7111.4104.0
Mar 17@PHX89–12931-8710-3517-23111293.7134.495.5
Mar 16@POR102–10538-9410-3116-201819104.1106.198.5
Mar 14@UTA126–11844-9112-3226-351510110.5105.4113.0
Mar 12PHI118–10544-10016-4014-182013113.5101.0104.0
Mar 10WAS119–10443-10916-4917-29828120.2104.099.5
Mar 8WAS117–11840-9510-2627-301520114.7116.8101.5
Mar 7UTA118–10940-10414-4624-28819114.6103.8104.0
Mar 4@ORL114–11338-8012-3026-352013117.5115.397.5
Mar 2@ORL104–10237-807-2223-301412111.8108.593.5

Off and Def are points scored and allowed per 100 possessions in each game; their averages are the 10-game ratings above. OREB is missing (–) where the source data didn't record it.

The result against the forecast

2024-25 surprise games
46%
pregame chance the forecast gave SAS, the winner
the forecast favored TOR
35 pts
margin miss
forecast +1, actual −34 for TOR
329th
most surprising result of 2024-25
of 1,309 graded games
19th
largest margin miss of 2024-25
outcome surprise 0.78 nats

Surprise is measured against this model's forecast, not against what other observers expected. Outcome surprise is −ln(winner's pregame probability): 0.69 for a coin flip, 2.3 for a 10% winner.

Team box score

What happened in the game. These numbers are not used by the forecast, and they are not offered as the reason it missed.

Team statSASTOR
Final score12389
Field goals41–86 · 47.7%35–92 · 38.0%
Three-pointers14–43 · 32.6%10–39 · 25.6%
Free throws27–32 · 84.4%9–13 · 69.2%
Rebounds4646
Assists2727
Turnovers1421
Steals158
Blocks63

Where the forecast differed from the result

MeasureForecastActualActual − forecast
Home margin (TOR)+1−34−35
Total points229212−17
SAS points114123+9
TOR points11589−26

Recent form before this game

San Antonio Spurs

DateOpponentResult
Mar 21 vs PHI W 128–120
Mar 19 vs NYK W 120–105
Mar 17 at LAL L 109–125
Mar 15 vs NOP W 119–115
Mar 14 vs CHA L 134–145

Toronto Raptors

DateOpponentResult
Mar 20 at GSW L 114–117
Mar 17 at PHX L 89–129
Mar 16 at POR L 102–105
Mar 14 at UTA W 126–118
Mar 12 vs PHI W 118–105

Previous meetings

DateMatchupScore
Feb 12 2023-24 SAS at TOR SAS 122 – 99 TOR
Nov 5 2023-24 TOR at SAS TOR 123 – 116 SAS
Feb 8 2022-23 SAS at TOR SAS 98 – 112 TOR
Nov 2 2022-23 TOR at SAS TOR 143 – 100 SAS
Mar 9 2021-22 TOR at SAS TOR 119 – 104 SAS