Magic vs. Trail Blazers Preview
PORTLAND, OR (AP) – After losing two straight for the second time all season, the Orlando Magic are finally getting healthy.
The Magic will try to bounce back from their second-lowest scoring output when they begin a four-game road trip Thursday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Dwight Howard, J.J. Redick and Mickael Pietrus all returned for Monday’s 80-74 loss to Atlanta after missing the previous two games with flu-like symptoms, and Jameer Nelson is likely to be back on the court against the Blazers after missing three contests.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Magic -2 point spread favorites for Thursday’s game against the Trail Blazers. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 65% of more than 513 bets for this game have been placed on the Magic -2.
Matchups show that Orlando is currently 8-13 ATS this season, while Portland is 9-9 ATS.
“This is definitely a unique situation with the illness we all contracted,” said Nelson, who scored a season-high 24 points against Chicago on Dec. 1 before getting sick. “In my years of playing basketball, and I’ve heard other guys in their years of playing basketball, they’ve never seen anything like it.”
Orlando (15-6) shot 37.8 percent from the floor and went 4 of 22 from 3-point range against the Hawks.
“It was a bad basketball game and we just played worse than they did,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I know we’re better than we played tonight. We didn’t even play a good three-minute stretch in the game.”
Howard has struggled in Portland over his career, averaging 12.7 points – his lowest mark against any opponent on the road.
Vince Carter, who has registered 21.3 points in his last four games, averaged 7.0 on 2-of-21 shooting against Portland in 2009-10 as these teams split a pair of meetings.
The Magic are averaging 100.9 points at home compared to 92.8 on the road, but they are still looking forward to the trip.
“This is a good chance for us to kind of grow as a team and get our confidence going and not only that, just playing against teams in their buildings with our backs against the wall,” forward Rashard Lewis said.
After snapping a season-worst six-game losing streak Sunday, the Blazers (10-11) recorded their second straight victory Tuesday night, 106-99 over Phoenix.
Portland trailed by six heading into the final 12 minutes but scored a season-best 37 points in the fourth quarter as they improved to 6-3 at home.
“It was fun. I thought our guys tonight, their game plan, they executed it,” coach Nate McMillan told the Blazers’ official website. “The second half, we made plays. We made shots. We got stops. Those are the things you need to do to win games.”
Wesley Matthews continued his strong play with 24 points. Matthews, averaging 10.4 points over his career, has scored at least 23 in five of his last six games while shooting 52.3 percent from the field.
Brandon Roy added 20 points and could be in line for another big game after averaging 31.5 in his last two against the Magic.
The Blazers were without Andre Miller on Tuesday, as he was serving a one-game suspension for “excessive and unnecessary contact” with Blake Griffin during Sunday’s 100-91 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Miller, whose consecutive games streak came to an end at 632 – the longest among active players – had not missed a game since Jan. 24, 2003.
The Blazers had lost eight of 10 in this series before winning 102-87 at home in the last meeting Jan. 15.