Atlanta at Orlando
Time: 6 PM CT (NBA LP)
Spread: ORL -9
Total: 225.5
Odds c/o 5dimes
The Orlando Magic are now on the inside-looking-out after moving into the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference with its 39-40 record. Orlando owns the tiebreaker over the Miami Heat and has a 1/2 game lead over Miami in the standings. It will host the 29-50 Atlanta Hawks as 9-point favorites according to NBA oddsmakers at 5dimes. The over/under is set at 225.5 points according to 5dimes.
ORL
The drought has finally apparently ended for the Orlando Magic. Though it has yet to clinch the postseason, it has the inside track on the Miami Heat to secure the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference. It will mean colliding in the first round of the playoffs with the No. 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks, but Orlando has fared well against the East’s top teams this year and defeated Milwaukee already this season. While the Magic are just 15-24 on the road and will not have home court advantage, the Magic have been hot: It has won eight of its last 10 games to surge to a tie with No. 7 Brooklyn at 39-40 this season.
The Magic won its most recent outing 114-100 over the New York Knicks and it had won six-straight before dropping two of its last four outings. The Magic fell 109-121 to Toronto and 98-115 to the Detroit Pistons but knocked off the Pacers and Knicks and it leads the Southeast Division despite being under .500 on the season.
Nikola Vucevic will be a free agent this offseason after making his first All-Star team this year for Orlando. The center has averaged 20.7 points, 12 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.1 blocks/steals while posting a team-best PER of 25.44. It has cushioned the non-development of Aaron Gordon, who seems by and large to have stalled out at a marginally productive player. Gordon averages just under 16 points and six rebounds per game, while Evan Fournier has become a steady No. 3 option rather than the leading-scorer he once was. Terrence Ross has largely saved the season for the Magic, and he averages 14.6 points in just 26 minutes a night while providing most of the bench sparks and scoring. The Magic remain in search of a point guard, while it boasts a long, defensive frontcourt: Jonathan Isaac is blossoming. Isaac is averaging a humble 9.5 points per game, but he has been one of the team’s best defenders and comes up with 2.1 steals/blocks in just 26 minutes a night while providing lockdown defense on both 3s and 4s.
The Magic do have a strong defensive identity, but it remains to be seen whether it can make real waves with the stop-gap point guard of DJ Augustin. Ideally, Markelle Fultz fulfills his lofty potential, but the Magic did little more than “take a waiver” on the talents of the former No. 1 overall pick. The Magic could make an angle to trade up in the draft to secure one of the top point guards in the 2019 draft class, but the teams at the top are just as likely to covet the likes of Ja Morant.
ATL
The Atlanta Hawks are playing the role of late-season spoilers as a team out of the playoff race who has now won five of its last seven games. Trae Young is making a late push for the Rookie of the Year Award, and second-year forward John Collins is continuing to blossom after making the First team all-rookie team a season ago.
Collins averages 19.5 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and has some pogo sticks for legs, while Young has drawn comparisons to none less than Stephen Curry. Young is averaging 19 points and eight assists, but he has really been on fire the last two months. Over his last 10 games, Young has averaged 24.1 points and 9.6 assists per game while shooting 46 percent from the floor over that stretch. In his three games against the Magic this season, Young has averaged 18 points and six assists, though he has shot just 16 percent from three against Orlando. Atlanta has a promising future with its top-end talents in Young and Collins, but it must continue to round out its roster with a great core already intact.
