Boston at Orlando
Time: 6 PM ET
TV: NBA League Pass
Spread: BOS -1.5
Total: 198.5
Betting odds c/o Bookmaker
The Orlando Magic’s season is all but over at 20-43 this season, but there are games left to play for pride, and this is certainly one of them. The Magic will host the Boston Celtics in search of its 11th home win of the season. The Celtics are 1.5 point favorites in NBA Daily Lines at Bookmaker, with the total set at 198.5. For an explanation of how to read these odds, see our NBA odds explained.
Orlando played without star center Nikola Vucevic in a shootout with the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. Orlando prevailed late in the game as Tobias Harris knocked down a corner three off a Victor Oladipo penetration as Orlando won 119-114.
Oladipo has been on an absolute tear for Orlando, having scored 70 points in the last two games. Over his past 10, the former Indiana Hoosier is posting 21.2 points, 4.8 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 48.2 percent from the floor. Oladipo has improved his three-point shooting to 34.4 percent this year, but when he gets hot he is really hard to stop. He’s 6 of 11 from three-point range over the last two games.
In the 105-100 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday (Mar 4), he hit 15 of 25 from the floor but got to the free throw line just four times. The next step in V.O. evolving his game is to continually draw fouls at the basket. He has no problem getting into the paint, but he was letting DeMarcus Cousins change his shots on Friday night, including a baseline penetration where he just lost the handle looking over his shoulder for the Kings’ big man.
Oladipo has the athleticism to finish over a guy like Cousins, so he needs to have the confidence to go hard and get opposing big men into foul trouble. He’s done a superb job of getting his teammates involved too, looking up while penetrating to find Magic shooters. His 10 assists in the Kings game speak to his passing, but the number could actually be far higher if guys like Elfrid Payton and Dewayne Dedmon were better finishers in traffic. Oladipo really only draws assists from tossing it to shooters like Harris, Channing Frye and even Ben Gordon Friday night. The Magic’s highest paid player in Frye hit six threes in the contest and played the role of a high post passer well with Vucevic nursing the ankle injury.
Vucevic is questionable for this game, and the Magic also have Evan Fournier, Luke Ridnour and Willie Green listed as questionable. Bettors will find this game tricky to bet on given Vucevic’s uncertain status, as he is certainly needed to mitigate Tyler Zeller. Zeller has improved a lot this season and both Dedmon and Magic backup center Kyle O’Quinn are foul prone. The Celtics will be without Jared Sullinger who is out for the season with a metatarsal fracture, and Avery Bradley is out with a shoulder injury as well.
The C’s have been playing good basketball, though, and defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 104-98 on Friday night. Isaiah Thomas has proven to be the scorer that Brad Stevens wanted. The 5’9” floor general has averaged 21 points and 5.1 assists over his past eight games wit the Celtics, though he is shooting just 41.7 percent from the floor. He has scored 48 points the last two games, while having hit 14 of 25 from the floor (56 percent) and he’s also hit 14 of 16 from the line over that stretch. Thomas has a very bright future in this league in just his fourth season.
Kelly Olynyk has had a good season, as well. He’s posting an above average PER of 15.75 and the Gonzaga big man sees 24 minutes a night this season for Stevens. He’s averaging 10.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Olynyk missed 18 games with an ankle injury and came off the bench for just seven minutes, and it is uncertain how frequently he’ll be used in this contest. He’s listed as active, but his lack of playing time in the last contest throws into the question of whether he is actually healthy yet.
With both Olynyk and Vucevic being questionably healthy, this game may end up being a guard-focused game between the scoring talents of Oladipo and Thomas. That may make for some good entertainment for those browsing NBA League Pass this Sunday.
