It will be a battle of division foes when the Charlotte Hornets (37-29) welcome the Orlando Magic (29-37) to the Time Warner Cable Arena. The game starts at 7:00 pm ET on Wednesday, Mar. 16 and will air on FxF and FxS.
The Hornets were beaten by the Mavericks 107-96 on Monday. Kemba Walker was the game’s high scorer, contributing 25 points. The Magic, meanwhile, are coming off a 116-110 win over the Nuggets on Tuesday. Jason Smith had a good game, accumulating 25 points and 13 rebounds to claim his first double-double of the season.
Walker has really been playing well as of late for the Hornets, averaging 27.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.0 steal, and 3.6 three-pointers over the last five games. On the other side, the Magic have been led by Victor Oladipo. He has been on fire, averaging 20.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.0 steals, 1.0 block, and 1.0 three-pointer in the same time frame.
Scoring chances at the line might be quite scarce for the Magic in this matchup. They are 30th in the league in free throw attempt rate (23.1), while Charlotte is among the league’s least foul-prone teams (allowing a rate of just 25.0, ranking fourth in the NBA).
The two teams have split their matchups this season. The Hornets had the upper hand in the most recent game, a 120-116 win. Walker was the game’s leading scorer with 40 points.
The Hornets enter the game with records of 37-28 Straight Up (SU) and 35-29-1 Against The Spread (ATS). They have gone 3-8 SU and 4-7 ATS against teams from their own division. Charlotte is excellent from the perimeter with 695 three-pointers made (10.0 per game), the fourth-most in the league. An area where the Hornets are particularly strong is defensive rebounding where they average 34.8 defensive rebounds per game, fifth in the NBA.
On the other side, Orlando has a SU record of 29-37 and an ATS record of 37-29. Most recently, Orlando is 7-3 ATS over the last 10 games.
With the Hornets’ last win against Orlando, the two teams’ head-to-head record is now an even 5-5 SU in their last 10 games. The teams also have an even record ATS in the last 10.
Predictions: SU Winner – Cha
Notes
“Charlotte is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games “.
“Charlotte is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games “.
“The total has gone OVER in 6 of Charlotte’s last 8 games “.
“Charlotte is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games at home”.
“Charlotte is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games at home”.
“The total has gone OVER in 5 of Charlotte’s last 7 games at home”.
“The total has gone OVER in 4 of Charlotte’s last 6 games when playing Orlando”.
“Charlotte is 4-11 ATS in its last 15 games when playing at home against Orlando”.
“Charlotte is 3-13 SU in its last 16 games when playing at home against Orlando”.
Orlando is struggling at 3-8 SU in its division, while Charlotte is 5-7 SU.
Both Orlando and Charlotte rank zeroth in points per game and points allowed per game respectively. Orlando scores 0.0 points per game, while Charlotte allows 0.0.
Orlando and Charlotte are well matched, ranking zeroth in points per away game and points allowed at home respectively. Orlando scores an average of 0.0 points on the road, while Charlotte gives up 0.0 points at home on average.
In games where they allow fewer than 100 points, the Orlando Magic are a solid 20-8. In games where they score fewer than 100 points, the Charlotte Hornets have an underachieving record of 7-23.
When allowing 100 or more points in a game, the Magic are just 9-29 this season. Charlotte is a stellar 30-6 when registering triple digits.
The Magic have an offensive rating of 101.9 (ranked 25th), while the Hornets rank ninth for their defensive rating of 102.2.
Charlotte has an average field goal percentage of 43.7%. Orlando is a losing 11-29 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
Charlotte averages 29.0 three point attempts per game, and Orlando attempts 22.0 per game. In games where the teams have 25 or more three point attempts, the Hornets have a winning 35-23 record while the Magic have an 11-14 record.
Charlotte has an assist to turnover ratio of 1.75 this season (ranked seventh), while Orlando ranks lower at 11th with an A/TO of 1.66.
The Charlotte Hornets rebound 43.9 times per game and are ranked 15th. Ranked 14th, the Orlando Magic rebound 44.0 times per game.
The Orlando Magic rank in the top half of the league in offensive rebounds (ranked 15th). The Charlotte Hornets rank near the very top of the league in defensive rebounding (ranked fifth).
Charlotte has forced an average turnover percentage of 13.4% this season. Orlando has a subpar 14-25 record when its TOV% is 13.4% or higher.
