NBA Free Premium Play 12/17: Minnesota Timberwolves @ Orlando Magic

Minnesota  at Orlando

NBA - 701 Minnesota Timberwolves @ 702 Orlando Magic Projected Line: 189 points This game will be played on a tough spot for both teams, as they will be playing their third game in four nights. Minnesota is coming from a home win on overtime against Dallas, where Andrei Kirilenko played 41 minutes, Nikola Pekovic 43 minutes, Alexey Shved 44 minutes and Luke Ridnour 40 minutes. They had also won on the road in New Orleans the night before. On the other hand, Orlando is coming from a road win in Charlotte, their second win in two nights, after having defeated the Warriors at home. Minnesota's offense had to play without Kevin Love against Dallas. However, they looked good without him against the Mavericks, as Alexey Shved has been assertive, while both Nikola Pekovic and Andrei Kirilenko seem to be back at 100% physically. With Ricky Rubio back, he is also bringing a lot of magic to the team while coming off the bench. Minnesota looked good on pick and roll ball handler plays, on cuts (7-10 FG) and transitions (7-12 FG). On the other hand, they struggled a bit on spot up plays. The Wolves keep not being good on 3pts shooting, but with a lot of volume on the interior, they are punishing their opponents down low and so, they are scoring a lot of points. They will face an Orlando team that is undersized down low, but the truth is that they are also a top team on defensive rebounding by being #4 in the league with 74.7% on defensive rebounding rate. The Magic are also #2 on post up defense and #4 on cuts defense, so they should be able to have a good defensive game tonight, as not only they are a tough matchup for the Wolves' offense, as Minnesota is also on a poor spot for tonight. On the other hand, Orlando is coming from two nice offensive games, with Jameer Nelson helping the team a lot and with Orlando being a decent team on pick and rolls and especially on cuts. Minnesota has been a good team in defending pick and rolls, but they are the worst team in the league in defending cuts with 1.38 PPP allowed! These two teams are two of the worst 3pts shooting teams in the league, as Orlando is #26 with 33.1% and Minnesota is #30 with 29.8%! Today, I expect both teams to try to attack the paint, however both teams are good defensive rebounding teams and they won't allow their opponents to have a lot of second chance points in here. I expect a very close game, with both teams struggling on offense due to their poor spot and due to the fact that they should be able to stop their opponents' offense with success today, with the exception being Minnesota's defense on Orlando's cuts. Therefore, I expect a low scoring game in here and so, I'll be taking the Under. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 701/702 Under 193 @ -110 / 1.91 on 5Dimes