NBA Basketball
2010-11-18 - Phoenix Suns at Orlando Magic
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: NBA Basketball
Thursday 18 November 2010 - Tip-Off 8pm ET
1am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Phoenix Suns (6-5) have to play in back to back nights against two of the powerhouses in the Eastern Conference, but may have further problems if Steve Nash is ruled out tonight. Nash played through the pain yesterday, but may not be able to help the Suns as they look to continue their good recent record against the Orlando Magic (7-3).
Nash played a season low 29 minutes in the loss in Miami, but sat out the final Quarter when the game was essentially beyond the reach of the Suns. He clearly struggled, scoring 17 points and 2 Assists, the least amount of Assists he has had in 141 games. It was also on the 9th time in his career that he had played at least 29 minutes and only produced 2 Assists.
All 5 of the Suns starters scored double-digits points, but they were heavily outrebounded by the Heat. If Nash is out, there will also be additional focus on Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu to start shooting better than they have been. Richardson has just 22 points in his last 2 games and is shooting at 33% from the field.
There is something not quite right with the Orlando Magic at this early stage of the season and much of that could be down to the struggles they are having from the 3 point range. The Magic are shooting just under 35% from that range to rank at 20th in the NBA, a far cry from last season when they set a new NBA record of 841 3 pointers in a season.
Dwight Howard has been dominating from the inside and is averaging a career high 21 points per game this season. This is again down to the fact that they are not hitting their 3 pointers with any consistancy so far this season.
Injuries have also affected the roster and perhaps contributed to the struggles the team has had. JJ Redick missed the last game against Memphis and his status is uncertain for this game. Redick was hitting on 40.5% of his 3 point efforts last season.
Even with all of these struggles, the Magic are still averaging 103 points per game in their home games.
Head to Head
Phoenix have won 9 of the last 12 games against Orlando. However, the Magic have won their last 2 games here at the Amway Center, and they are 7-3 against the spread in their last 10 games overall.
Orlando have a 3-7 record against the spread this season, and are 0-4 in their last 4 at home.
Prediction
It is clear that the line has been set up fairly high because of the way the Miami Heat dominated the Suns last night, especially on the boards, but Orlando have not been playing their usual style of basketball so far this season and are really struggling from the 3 point range.
The loss of Steve Nash would be important for the Suns and the rest of the team will really need to step up if he is indeed absent for this game.
I expect the Magic will be able to dominate on the boards here, but the Suns will have the edge when it comes to speed. With all the injuries faced by Orlando, Stan Van Gundy has stated that he is forced to play a big line up against them tonight.
Both teams can score plenty of points, and I feel the Over 204 Points is the best way to go with this game. Again, I feel both teams will be surpassing, or at least getting close to, the 100 point mark and I think we may well see a closer game than last night.
I'll take the Overs here.
The Pick :
Orlando Magic 112-102 Phoenix Suns
