Southeast Division rivals Orlando and Miami square off in South Beach as the Magic test the Heat at the American Airlines Arena on Tuesday December 4th.
The Magic have been travelling for a while now. In their last game Orlando defeated the Suns in Phoenix 99-85 on Friday night. Meanwhile the Heat are coming off a 102-100 home victory over Utah last Sunday night in their most recent outing.
After their win over the Phoenix Suns last Friday, the Orlando Magic improved to 2-3 on their current six game road swing. They will finish the trip with a visit to the Miami Heat in the American Airlines Arena where the Heat are just 5-8 on the season. Orlando is currently tied with the Charlotte Hornets for the best record in the Southeast Conference at 11-12 on the season.
Big Man Nikola Vucevic has emerged as of late for the Magic. The seven-footer from USC currently leads Orlando in scoring and rebounding at 21.0 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, respectively. Aaron Gordon has slowed down after a fast start but he is still contributing 16.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Rookie Mo Bamba is adding 6.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and a team leading 1.3 blocks per game for the Magic.
Orlando ranks 25th in the league in team scoring at 105.8 points per game scored. They are 6th in the NBA in assists with 26.2 dimes per contest. Defensively, the Magic have been impressive so far, allowing just 108.1 points per game which is the 7th fewest in the league this season. In terms of rebounding, Orlando ranks 24th with their 42.2 rebounds per game average.
The Miami Heat have not played up to par at the start of the season. Miami is just 9-13 after 22 games played and they enter this game having won just four out of their last 10 games. Despite that, the Heat remain in third place in their division and are only just 1.5 games back of the Hornets and Magic for the divisional lead.
Shooting guard Josh Richardson is Miami’s leading scorer at 20.3 points per game. Richardson is also contributing 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.32 steals per game this season. Hassan Whiteside is averaging a double double with 13.6 points, 13.9 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game this season. Miami is still without Goran Dragic in this game with a sore knee. Dragic has missed the Heat’s last seven games and the have gone 3-4 over that stretch.
The Heat are only scoring an average of 108.2 points per game which is ranked 22nd in the entire NBA. Miami is dishing off a total of 21.9 assists per game which is only good for 25th in the league. Defensively, Miami is allowing 109.6 points per game, a solid 11th overall among 30 NBA teams. The Heat also rank 7th in rebounding at 47.6 points per game this season.
The Orlando Magic and Miami Heat have faced off a total of 116 times during the NBA regular season. The Heat lead their all-time series 64-52 but the Magic have won six out of their last eight meetings including the last two. They have played each other once this season, with the Magic winning 104-101 last October 17th in Orlando.
Orlando is 2-3 SU in their last 5 games played and are 5-6 SU in their 11 road games played so far this season. The Heat are 3-2 SU in their last 5 games played and are 5-8 SU in their 13 home games this season. Head to head, Orlando is 6-4 SU in their last 10 meetings.
The Heat will be without Goran Dragic in this game as he is still hobbled by a knee injury. Likewise Tyler Johnson won’t be back until mid-December as he is still recovering from a hamstring injury. Rodney McGruder and Derrick Jones are also consider day to day for Miami. On the other hand, the Magic are only missing Timofey Mozgov who won’t be missed at all.
The Magic have cooled off after a strong start to the season. They dropped four out of five games before winning over Phoenix the last time out. Miami is coming off back to back wins and is playing at home. However, Miami is just 5-8 SU and ATS at home this season and are without Dragic again for this game. Orlando isn’t a high scoring team but has the defense that can pull this game off. The Magic already beat the Heat earlier this season and we’re going to see a repeat of that. Vucevic and Gordon should step up and lead the Magic to victory. We’re picking the Orlando Magic to beat the Miami Heat on 12/4/18.
Orlando is 4-0 ATS in their last four games and are 8-3 ATS in 11 road games played so far this season. Meanwhile, Miami is also 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall but are only 5-8 ATS in 13 games played at the American Airlines Arena this season. Head to head, the Magic are 6-4 ATS in their last 10 meetings.
Miami is just 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games against opponents with a losing road record. They are also winless ATS in their last five divisional games and also winless in their last five games played on a Tuesday. Orlando is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games after an SU win and are 4-0 ATS in their last four games overall. The Magic are 6-2 ATS in their last six meetings and are also 4-0 ATS in their last four games on the road. I’ll take the plus points and the Magic here. Prediction: Orlando +2
The under is 4-2 in Orlando’s last six games played and the the total has gone under in 6 out of the 11 road games played by the Magic. Meanwhile, the under is 6-2 in Miami’s last 8 games played but the over is 7-6 in the Heat’s 13 home games this season and the total has also gone over in seven out of their last 10 head to head games against the Magic.
These two teams are ranked in the bottom 10 of the league in team scoring and have defenses which are in the Top 11 in points allowed. Miami is without Goran Dragic again in this game and the heat have averaged just 103.67 points in their last three wins and just 104.0 points per game in games without him. Meanwhile, the Magic are only averaging 103.2 points per game during this current six game road trip. 208.5 is a low total worth the risk. But without Dragic, I don’t he how the Heat catches fire offensively here. Prediction: Under 208.5
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