Boston Celtics vs. Orlando Magic
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Two teams that just don’t like each other collide in a nationally televised NBA betting battle on Thursday night when the Boston Celtics (29-13, 17-25 ATS) take on the Orlando Magic (29-16, 22-22-1 ATS). Both of these teams are still trying to run down the Cleveland Cavaliers atop the Eastern Conference standings, but the Celtics are comfortably seven games up in their division, while the Magic are in the unfamiliar territory of looking up at someone in the Southeast Division sitting half a game behind the Hawks. It’s been over two weeks since the Celtics have covered a spread, and they’re only 2-3 SU in that stretch as well. Boston’s most recent basketball gambling affair netted a 95-89 victory against the Clippers on Monday night. Orlando’s three-game winning streak was halted in Memphis that same night, 99-94.

Though Boston’s defense hasn’t been “bad” by NBA standards lately, HC Doc Rivers will point the finger in that direction for the teams struggles of late. Since December 28th, his club has allowed 98.5 points per game, which is up almost five points from its season average. In that stretch, the offense has only scored more than 100 points four times. The other alarming stat: In games which the Celtics have scored at least 100 points, they have won 14 straight SU and are 9-3 ATS in their L/12. When they don’t score 100 points: 2-8 SU and 0-10 ATS in their L/10.

The Magic haven’t allowed a foe to reach that 100-point magical number since January 15th. The discussion of three-pointers is starting to get annoying in Orlando. C Dwight Howard is upset that the ball doesn’t go through his hands more often, but HC Stan Van Gundy is content on letting his sharpshooters bombard the rim from the outside. This is the formula that worked for Orlando last year and got it to the NBA Finals, but it’s becoming more and more apparent that without F Hedo Turkoglu, that same lethal outside threat just isn’t there. His replacement, G Vince Carter is only shooting 30.6% from downtown on the year.

The road team has pulled out three straight victories both SU and ATS in this series, including when the Magic knocked Boston out of the playoffs last year with a 101-82 victory at Boston Garden in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Celtics’ last visit to Orlando came on Christmas Day, when they marched into Amway Arena and left with a dominant 86-77 ‘W’ as 5.5-point underdogs.

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