NBA Spreads: Orlando Magic at New Orleans Hornets
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The Orlando Magic will go for their 10th straight win tonight when they take on the New Orleans Hornets on the road. Orlando comes in off a 117-107 win at Dallas, and its hard to remember that Orlando had lost eight of nine before going on this tear. The Hornets come in with some momentum, as they went into Denver and beat the Nuggets 96-87 on Sunday. This is the first meeting between these two teams this season, and our NBA spreads have the Magic favored by 3.5-points over the Hornets with the total sitting at 190 points.
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This will be a real test for Orlando, as they haven’t exactly played a solid team on the road during their winning streak. Wins at Cleveland and New Jersey are nothing special, and their last win came against a Mavericks team that was without their best player Dirk Nowitzki.
Still it’s hard to argue with the success that the Magic have had lately. Orlando has won all nine games by at least 10 points or more, and its not just one guy, its the whole team playing well.
Against the Mavericks, all eight of the players who played in the game scored at least 9 points, with only J.J. Redick scoring fewer than 11. Dwight Howard had 23 points and 13 rebounds, Jason Richardson added 20 points, and Hedo Turkoglu chipped in 13 points to go along with his 17 assists and five steals. The Magic shot 51.9% as a team, and were 14-32 from three-point range. Scoring at will could be a challenge tonight in New Orleans.
The Hornets are coming off a great defensive performance against the Nuggets, where they held a very high scoring Denver team to just 87 points and 40.5% shooting. Denver went just 5-21 from behind the arc, and if the Nuggets are going to slow down the Magic, they have to limit them from outside.
Chris Paul led the way with 20 points to go along with his six assists, and David West had an all around good game with 19 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. The big matchup to watch is Emeka Okafor vs. Dwight Howard. If Okafor can hold his own against Howard and allow the other four guys to stick to their man and not have to collapse and help, the Hornets are going to have a great shot at winning this game, but stopping Howard is no easy task.
The Hornets are 14-5 at home this season, and I think you have to take the points and play on the home team in this one. Orlando is due for a slip up and I think it happens tonight.
For more help with who to take, check out what our expert handicappers have to offer in their daily NBA picks.
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