Wizards vs. Magic Pick
The Washington Wizards snapped their four-game losing skid Tuesday night with a home victory over the Boston Celtics. The Wizards have a chance to move up to the seventh seed tonight with a road win over the Orlando Magic coupled with a loss by the Miami Heat. Will Washington take care of business?
Game Snapshot & Current Odds
713 Washington Wizards -7.5 at 714 Orlando Magic +7.5
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Amway Center, 8:10PM ET
TV: NBCSWA (WASH), FS Florida (ORL)
As of Wednesday afternoon, 66 percent of public bets have sided with the visiting Wizards. Check our NBA Public Betting Page in order to get the latest information.
Wall has monster game in win
Washington point guard John Wall hasn’t had the best season of his career as he missed a couple months with a knee injury and has been up and down since his return. But in an important game Tuesday night, Wall dominated in a 113-101 home victory over the Celtics. Wall poured in 29 points to go with 12 assists, seven rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. He also surpassed 5,000 career assists. If the Wizards can get that kind of performance out of Wall a few times in the postseason, they are capable of competing with anyone in the Eastern Conference. But right now the focus for Wall and company is on the Magic as a win coupled with a Heat home loss to the Raptors would propel Washington to the seventh seed and a first round matchup with the Celtics.
Magic lacked direction again this season
A major problem with Orlando for years is it has lacked a true identity. What do the Magic want to be? They seem to always tweak their roster from year to year, bringing in talented veteran players such as Serge Ibaka or drafting supposed franchise centerpieces like Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton only to eventually ship them out. Or not figuring out whether Aaron Gordon profiled best as a three or a four and stunting his growth. Or having talented offensive talent like Nikola Vucevic and Jonathon Simmons who seemingly don’t care a lick about defense. All in all, the only thing working for Orlando lately is getting in the draft lottery. Here’s to hoping the Magic hit a home run with their next first round draft pick and finally find their way.
NBA Betting Trends
Washington
Washington is 0-4 ATS in its last four games played on zero’s days of rest. The Wizards are 4-0 ATS in their last four games in Orlando. Washington is 1-6 ATS in its last seven games overall.
Orlando
The Magic are 1-7-1 ATS in their last nine games playing on one day of rest. The under is 5-1 in the last six meetings with the Wizards in Orlando. Orlando is 2-7-1 ATS in its last 10 games overall.
Prediction:
The Wizards haven’t fared well in back-to-backs lately and it is an NBA-wide issue where winning on zero days of rest is extremely difficult. And to expect Washington to win by eight points or more on the road, even against the Magic, seems like a lot to ask. There are going to be a couple teams playing a spoiler today and I think Orlando could be one of those teams, at least covering the spread but perhaps even keeping the Wizards in the eighth seed.
NBA DAILY PREDICTION: ORLANDO MAGIC +7.5