NBA Basketball
2026-04-17 - Charlotte Hornets at Orlando Magic
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : NBA Basketball Play In Tournament
Friday 17th April 2026 - Scheduled 7:30pm EST
12:30am (British Time)
Preview
They may not have a lot of Playoff experience, but the Charlotte Hornets will have learned so much from the opening Play In Tournament win over the Miami Heat. Some big shots were made by a young group as they forced Overtime against a veteran team, and the Charlotte Hornets edged through to the final Play In Tournament game in their bid to reach the First Round of the Playoffs as the Number 8 Seed.
This time the Hornets will be playing on the road and they will be glad that the NBA did not suspend LaMelo Ball and instead gave him a fine and assessed him a flagrant foul against his name.
It was Ball's incident with Bam Adebayo which saw Miami's best player forced out of the game and the Miami Heat were not very happy with the lack of action produced by the officials on the night. In a game that ended up as close as it did, the absence of Adebayo for the second half may have been the difference, but the Charlotte Hornets have to move on and prepare for this elimination game.
They are heading to Florida to take on the Orlando Magic who could not quite do enough to peg back the Philadelphia 76ers and were eventually beaten by 12 points. However, the Magic finished in the top eight of the Eastern Conference and that means having another chance of earning a spot in the Playoffs and this time in a game they are hosting.
Despite that, the Orlando Magic are going into the game as the underdog and that may be partly down to the fact they have lost the last three regular season games against the Charlotte Hornets. The last of those was played a month ago and will give the Hornets a confidence booster, while they have also had an extra day to prepare.
It has not always mattered in these Play In Tournament games with the last six seeing the home team finish with a 5-1 record both straight up and against the spread.
However, the test for the Orlando Magic is to erase the last couple of performances from the memory and also look for some of their more experienced players to produce with more efficiency. That was lacking in the loss to the 76ers a couple of days ago, while Orlando are also going to have to find a way to get out to the Charlotte players, who will spot up at the three point arc and live or die by that shot.
They were far from their most efficient from that distance in the first Play In Tournament game, but the Hornets were taking 50% of their shots from outside the three point arc and that has been the approach that has taken them into the post-season.
A young group have to come through another pressurised spot, but they have shown resilience in getting past Miami.
It was a close game though and this has the makings of being another with the Orlando Magic tougher than they have shown in the last couple of games. They have balance Offensively, which can be so important in these situations, and Orlando have played Playoff Basketball recently, which can help them here.
Home teams have performed well in this final Play In Tournament game over the last three seasons and Orlando have the capabilities of pushing the Charlotte Hornets all the way and perhaps even earn the outright home upset.
Prediction
Take the points with the home underdog in this Eastern Conference Play In Tournament game that will determine the opponent in the First Round Series for the Detroit Pistons.
The Pick :
Orlando Magic 110-112 Charlotte Hornets
