Orlando Magic vs. Boston Celtics
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On Sunday afternoon, ABC will broadcast a fantastic NBA betting battle between Eastern Conference rivals. The Orlando Magic (33-17, 25-24-1 ATS) will look to conquer their foe from the Conference Semifinals from last season, the Boston Celtics (32-16, 19-28-1 ATS). Both teams are coming off of rather surprising results from Friday night. The Celtics were hefty 12.5-point choices on the basketball point spread, but needed a 24-14 fourth quarter rally to beat the lowly Nets at home by nine. Meanwhile, the story was even worse for the Magic, who jumped out to a 32-13 first quarter lead only to blow it at home against the Washington Wizards 92-91.

The Magic may still be right there in the Southeast Division chase, but HC Stan Van Gundy and his squad are taking quite a bit of heat from the local media, and rightfully so. Friday’s SU defeat marked Orlando’s seventh outright defeat as a favorite since January 2nd. The Magic have been favored in all but two of their games since that point, but are only 9-9 SU and a lousy 7-10-1 ATS. The problem seems to be an inconsistent offense, which Van Gundy described as “a bunch of crap” to reporters after the Washington game.

The vultures aren’t exactly steers clear of Beantown either, but at least HC Doc Rivers can use the excuse that he has dealt with a ton of injury problems since the turn of the decade. Since beating Orlando on Christmas Day at Amway Arena, Boston is just 9-11 SU and 5-14-1 ATS in that stretch of NBA wagering wars. F Paul Pierce was scratched from the lineup on Friday night with a sprained foot. His status is still very much up in the air for this game.

These two teams have met three times this season. The road team had won the previous two encounters before the Magic stormed back from a huge second half deficit to triumph over the C’s 96-94 at home on January 28th. Dating back to Game 7 of last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals, the road team has covered four straight in this rivalry.

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