NBA Betting Preview
Cleveland Cavaliers (35-8) at Orlando Magic (34-10)
Thursday, 8:00PM Eastern

Bookmaker.com betting line- Orlando -3, 194 O/U

Two of the top teams from the Eastern Conference will square off in an interesting showdown between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic. The Magic will host the event at Amway Arena where they sport a 17-6 record this season. Cleveland has descent 14-8 road record this year keeping in mind they are a perfect 21-0 at home. However, this game will not be in Cleveland and this game is getting a lot of attention considering both teams have likely chances to meet during the playoffs. The game marks the first meeting between the Magic and Cavs this season while they both split the two meetings a year ago. Cleveland owns the best winning percentage in the NBA at 81.4% and they will also be going for their 5^th straight win on Thursday night.

Orlando is fresh off a blowout win on Tuesday night over the pacers when they posted a whopping 135 point performance. The win marked the 8^th victory in the last 10 for the Magic. In that game, shooting guard Mickael Pietrus returned to the lineup after missing 12 games with a broken wrist. Pietrus did not disappoint in his return coming off the bench and knocking down a team high 27 points and also pulling down 10 rebounds. Pietrus is averaging 12.7 points per game this season, but has the ability as seen on Tuesday night for some breakout performances.

Leading the scoring attack is the 23 year old phenom Dwight Howard. Howard leads the league in rebounding at 13.8 boards per game while adding a strong 20 points per game as well. Howard also leads the league in blocked shots averaging 3.2 per game. Leading the rest of the starting lineup is some equally impressive talent in Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Jameer Nelson. All 3 of these talented players are scoring at least 17 points per game this season and have the ability to knock down shots from anywhere on the floor. The Magic will have to overcome a talented Cleveland team that leads the league in scoring defense. However, the Cavs have not played particularly great on the road and the Magic will try to capitalize.

Cleveland has rattled off 4 straight wins including a 117-110 win over Sacramento on Tuesday night. In that performance, Lebron James tallied his 20^th career triple double with 23 points, 15 boards, and 11 assist. However, James was not the highlight off the night as usual. Instead, teammate Mo Williams stole the spotlight dropping a career high 43 points that included seven 3 pointers behind the arc as the Cavaliers became only the 5^th team in history to get off to a 21-0 start at home. However, Thursday night’s battle with Orlando promises to be a more difficult task.

Cleveland leads the NBA in scoring defense holding opponents to a mere 90.3 points per game. However, the Cavs will have a tough challenge holding the talented shooting Orlando team under the century mark. Cavaliers big 7’3” center Zydrunas Ilgauskas has missed the past few weeks with a fracture in his ankle, but the big guy is back on the practice floor and could possibly make his return on Thursday night. Ilgauskas is listed as questionable for the match-up with the Magic. Lebron James will need to have a big night again considering he ranks 2^nd in the NBA in scoring with 28 points per contest. Rather than James breaking out the Cavaliers will need some one to step up like Mo Williams did on Tuesday night to make up for Delonte West and the possibility of Ilgauskas missing another game due to injuries.

Pick – Orlando exposes Cavs injury woes. Magic -3