Magic Travel to Utah
The Orlando Magic have been consistently good on the road all season. The Utah Jazz have been even better at home.
On Saturday, Utah looks for its fifth straight home win when it faces the Magic, owners of the most road victories in the NBA.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global have made Utah -6.5 point spread favorites (NBA Odds) for today’s game, the over/under has been set at 212 total points (Matchup). Our public betting information shows that 61% of bets for this game have been placed on Utah -6.5 (View NBA Bet Percentages).
The Jazz (20-17) have been dominant on their home floor, posting a 14-3 record and outscoring their opponents by an average of 13.1 points. They’ve won each of their last two home games by 22 points – following Tuesday’s 111-89 win over Indiana with a 108-86 romp Thursday night over a Phoenix team missing three starters.
Mehmet Okur led the way for Utah against the Suns, scoring 22 points and grabbing a season-high 17 rebounds.
"It was fun for us to watch him play like that," said Carlos Boozer, Utah’s leading scorer at 23.3 points per game. "When he plays like that, we’re virtually unstoppable."
The Jazz were also undermanned Thursday – Matt Harpring wasn’t with the team because his wife was in labor, while Andrei Kirilenko missed his third straight game due to inflammation in his lower back.
Harpring will rejoin the team in time to face the Magic. Kirilenko will be a game-time decision.
Even without two of its key contributors, Utah doesn’t have trouble scoring. The Jazz average 104.8 points, fifth-most in the league. They’re even better at home, where they score 107.0 points per game.
Utah, though, is just 4-10 this season when it fails to reach 100 points.
Like the Jazz, the Magic (23-15) depend on their offense. They’re averaging 103.6 points – the most in the Eastern Conference – but are 5-9 when they score 100 or fewer.
Orlando has lost four of five following a four-game winning streak and sits three games ahead of second-place Washington in the Southeast Division. Although the Magic are 16-7 away from home, they need a win Saturday to salvage a split of a four-game trip against Western Conference opponents.
The Magic fell 113-103 Friday to Northwest Division-leading Denver. Orlando led by two points after three quarters, but was outscored 29-17 in the fourth.
"For 3 1/2 quarters, we were in a (heck) of a game and then they made more plays than we did,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.
Forward Rashard Lewis, acquired in the offseason from Seattle, is averaging 18.4 points in his first season with Orlando and has scored at least 20 in each of his past three games. He’s made 14 of 30 shots from 3-point range in that stretch, which included a 21-point effort at Denver.
Meanwhile, fellow Orlando forward Hedo Turkoglu has struggled recently. The team’s second-leading scorer (19.2 ppg) has made just 37.2 percent of his shots – including 3 of 17 from 3-point range – over his last four games. He scored eight points Friday, the first time this season he failed to reach double figures.
Utah won 113-94 at Orlando on Dec. 21, but the Magic had taken six of the previous seven meetings in the series.
By: Marc Young – theSpread.com – Email Us
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