The Orlando Magic, with a keen eye on second place in the Southeast Division, will welcome Atlantic leader Philadelphia to the Amway Center this evening. Tonight’s game, which marks the second meeting of the season between these two squads, is scheduled to tip off at 7:00pm ET. NBA Odds have the hosting Magic listed as a -2.5 against the spread favorite; the game total is set at 178.5 points.
Philadelphia hit a bit of a rough patch shortly after the calendar switched to February as it lost three home games in a five game stretch, including back-to-back contests against the Spurs and Clippers. However, the 76ers appear to be back on track after recording wins at Cleveland and at Charlotte on Saturday and Monday respectively.
The win over the Bobcats improved Philly’s record to 20-9 on the season and gave it a four game cushion on the second place Celtics in the Atlantic standings. The 76ers, who beat the Magic 74-69 in Philadelphia on January 30th, saw its two biggest names, Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala, combine for just 11 points opposite Charlotte, but guards Jodie Meeks and Jrue Holiday scored 11 and 19 points respectively. Philly, per usual, also got a big boost from its bench as Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young combined for 43 points and nine rebounds.
Orlando also comes into tonight’s game off back-to-back wins after beating the Bucks 99-94 in Milwaukee on Saturday night and the Timberwolves 102-89 at the Amway Center on Monday. The Magic, which are 2-2 in their last four home games, improved to 18-11 overall as a result of those two wins.
Orlando, despite an 11 point, seven rebound night from its star, Dwight Howard, slid past Minnesota with relative ease as the team hit 40 percent from beyond the arc and 18-of-22 from the charity stripe. The Magic, who lost the battle of the boards 43 to 50, had six players score in double figures but not a single player finished with more than 17 points.
In spite of its loss to Philadelphia last month, Orlando has dominated this series of late, winning 11 of its last 13 games against the 76ers. The Magic have also won seven of the last eight between these two Eastern Conference rivals at the Amway Center.
NBA Odds Betting Trend: The Magic are 7-3 both straight up and against the spread in their last 10 games as a home favorite against an Atlantic opponent with a spread between 0 and 3.5 points.
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Philadelphia 76ers vs Orlando Magic 2012 NBA Predictions: Provided by Bovada.lv
Philadelphia 76ers +2.5 (-110), Over 178.5 (-110)
Orlando Magic -2.5 (-110), Under 178.5 (-110)
