The Orlando Magic continue their Pacific sightseeing with a trip to North, where they’ll catch the Portland Trail Blazers at their home. The Blazers barely left the comfort of their home, but the results were underwhelming. They have to salvage the kind schedule record with a win on Wednesday night.
Magic at Trail Blazers
Spread: Portland -5.5 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: o/u 212 points (-110)
The Magic no match to the champions
The Orlando Magic got to see how they measured up against the Golden State Warriors. They aren’t very good and their flaws are becoming more apparent when playing against really good teams. Even without having to cope with Steph Curry, the Magic lost 100-110 to the champions, staying close for a half before not being able to withstand the pressure.
The Magic have enjoyed a ton of early-season offensive success, but the hit rate was too high, and they haven’t been able to sustain it. Over the last few games, the laws of average are hitting the Magic hard. The Magic shot 42% from the field, and a chilly 31% from behind the arc as they couldn’t hit any of their shots in the second half, especially early after the break. Orlando players missed seven of their first eight shots and the Warriors quickly opened up a double-digit lead. The Magic avoided being blown out by getting to the free throw line, but the poor shooting continued the rest of the way, and they didn’t have any other trump in their sleeves. They continued with their usual heavy-switching defense that didn’t trouble the Warriors, who didn’t mind using mismatches no matter who got one. In the fourth quarter, as the Warriors put their starters back in, Kevin Durant led the onslaught that brought deficit out to 20 points and had Frank Vogel scrambling for his bench. The reserves did a solid job bringing the results back to respectability, but it was still obvious that the Magic don’t belong among top teams in the league. Vucevic led the scorers with 20 points, Fournier followed with 16, and three other players scored in double digits. While they took care of the ball, the offense was not the same smooth and flowing spectacle like under the baton of Augustin. The Magic players tried to do too much on their own, especially the starting bunch.
Augustin remains out indefinitely, and Elfrid Payton plays through a nagging injury, so it’s not going to improve for this game either. Rookie big Isaac is questionable to play in Portland, where the Magic end this four-game road trip.
Place: Moda Center, Portland, Oregon
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 15th, 2017. 10:00 PM ET
TV Coverage: NBCSNW, FS Florida
Coach shakes things up, the Blazers respond
The way the Blazers have been playing close games, there was a sense of unease when they opened up the fourth quarter of the Monday’s game against the Denver Nuggets by clanking one after another shot. Fortunately, the disease caught their opponents as well, so Rip City waited for a run that never happened. As a result, the Blazers won more than comfortably against the division leaders – 99-82.
After a disappointing deuce of losses prior to this game, the Blazers coaching staff decided to make a change to the starting lineup. It was nothing spectacular, Vonleh was replaced by Swanigan, but it was a sign of things to come. Stotts changed the rotations, sitting both Lillard and McCollum together and for extensive stretches, and hoped to get more production from the second unit. It worked. Not only this series of moves surprised the Nuggets, but it also ignited the bench players who saw a perfect opportunity to shine. The Blazers had outscored the Nuggets by 14 points in the stretches Lillard and McCollum rested on the bench, including a crucial second-quarter stint during which the bench built a double point lead by committing to stop the opposition from scoring. The reserves scored 42 points combined, despite nobody catching fire. McCollum and Lillard combined to score just 32 points, while either attempted fewer field goals than Jusuf Nurkic, who had 17 points himself. However, the team shot 52 percent from the field and led by as many as 23 points. It wasn’t impressive, and it likely won’t last, but it was a good message sent to the entire squad – you have to perform.
Portland stretch big Meyers Leonard was activated after missing the previous eight games. He did not see any action despite the extended rotation. Aminu remains out of the lineup. Following Magic game, Portland has a home-and-home doubleheader with Sacramento on Friday and Saturday.
Orlando Magic at Portland Trail Blazers Game Trends & Prediction
The Orlando Magic managed to cover in Oakland, so that’s the third time they made a profit to their backers in the last four games. However, it’s a too small of a period to observe – they are actually 3-3 in the last six, as the storm they’ve played with at the start of the season subsided. The Magic are 8-6 against the spread so far. The game also stayed (barely) below the projected total points line, so overs were short-lived. They are 6-8 against the over/under, and 2-6 in the last eight games.
Considering that they’ve played only one road game in the last 10, the Blazers could have been a nice, profitable team to wager on. Instead, they’ve been close to terrible investment. Portland covered only three times in that span, and ATS wins have been spread out. Overall, they are 5-7-1, but only 3-6 in Moda Center. They are also a trendy pick on the under points, going 4-9 this season and just 2-7 at home. Four consecutive games stayed below the projected lines.
Admi-Rank: Arrows are pointing up for both teams, but the progress has been slow. The Magic can’t get to the NBA average, and the Blazers showed nothing more than that. It’s the consistency that has been lacking from both sides, but while the Blazers hope that they’ll finally find their shooting stroke, the Magic can only hope that they will hold it for a little bit longer (or they’ll soon go red).
Orlando has a habit of forcing the play off the dribble and settling for 3-pointers when they face these moments of struggle. And when the shots do not fall, the frustration becomes obvious on defense. This was a repeating theme each time they’ve faced a good defense, and the Blazers have improved in this department.
Going with under is the best deal here, as the line of 212 points gives us enough of a value to go with the early wager. The Blazers have also been set as a 5.5-point jolly, which is slightly more than I expected. They haven’t done as well prior to the last game, and I doubt they’ll impress with new rotations now that they’ve lost the element of surprise. However, the Magic are road weary and I’m also worried about the flow of their offense, so it’s best to avoid spread betting on this game.
My Pick: (no spread wager here)
Total: Under 212 points (-110)
