NBA - 805 Oklahoma City Thunder @ 806 Orlando Magic
Projected Line: 204 points | Oklahoma City by 18 points
Both teams are in poor spots for this contest. Oklahoma City is coming from two big games against Denver and Memphis, where they showed a big effort, even though they lost both games. On their game against the Nuggets, Kevin Durant played 43 minutes, while all the remaining players were on the court for 37 minutes or less than that. However, on the following day in Memphis, on a contest that went to overtime, Kevin Durant played 48 minutes and Russell Westbrook 41 minutes. After that game, they traveled to Orlando to face the Magic tonight, on their third game in four nights. On the other side, Orlando has been using their starters a lot lately, as Coach Vaughn is really showing that he doesn't want to give minutes to scrubs even though their playoffs chances are none for a long time ago now.
The big difference for tonight's game will be Oklahoma City's attitude for tonight's game, in comparison to the last game between these two teams. On that game played in Oklahoma, the Thunder were coming from a mega win over Utah and they had 1 day off before facing the Magic at home, on a home-home spot for them. On the other hand, Orlando had 2 days off prior to that game, so they were also on a good physical spot at the time. Oklahoma City quickly gained a 27 points lead in that game and they were absolutely crushing the Magic on offense until they relaxed and they let Orlando get back in the scoreboard, just to crush them once again down the stretch. It's important to note that Orlando dished just 12 assists throughout the whole game, even though they made 40 field goals! That's an assist rate of 30%! Oklahoma City's laziness on that game was so evident that a slow jump shooting team like the Magic scored 20 fast break points and 56 points in the paint!
Now with the Magic on a much worse spot tonight, with their players tired from a road trip, and especially with Oklahoma City coming from two losses in a row, I expect the Thunder to bounce back tonight in both ends of the floor. The Thunder will have clear edges against Orlando's poor defense and their physical spot is indeed tough for them tonight. Therefore, I expect them to compensate that with an extra effort on defense. Oklahoma City won't relax tonight and I expect them to take this game against the Magic quite seriously.
“We’ll get a win in Orlando” Kevin Durant said when asked how the Thunder bounces back after two straight losses. “Simple. It’s a must-win game. A must-win game.”
I expect Oklahoma City to bounce back tonight and pick up a nice and easy blowout win in Orlando tonight. I expect that win to come from an excellent defensive performance tonight and therefore, I'll be taking the Under in here as well.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 805/806 Under 208 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 805 Oklahoma City Thunder (-14) @ -110 / 1.91 on Betonline
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