Los Angeles Lakers at Orlando Magic Preview and Pick

NBA Basketball Betting Preview
Los Angeles Lakers (46-17) at Orlando Magic (43-20)
Sunday March 6th, 2:30PM Eastern

Betus.com betting line – Orlando -3, 195 O/U

A rematch of last year’s NBA Finals renews this Sunday when the Orlando Magic host the Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams are yet again front runners in their respected conferences to perhaps making another Finals appearance. The Lakers own the best record in the Western Conference at 46-17 while the Magic own the 2nd best record in the Eastern Conference at 43-20. However, the contest will take place at Amway Arena where the Magic are a very strong 24-6. On the other side of the court, the Lakers are just 17-12 away from the Staples Center. Perhaps even more surprising is the Lakers are entering the contest on a rare losing skid having dropped two straight road games to both Miami and Charlotte. If the Lakers were to happen to fall again this Sunday, it would mark the first time they have lost 3 straight regular season games since January of 2008.

While most would expect the Lakers to bounce back this Sunday, they must play much better than they did against the Bobcats on Friday. Los Angeles shot a miserable 36% from the floor while committing 20 turnovers in a 98-83 loss. Perhaps more importantly than the offensive off performances during the last few outings is the defensive numbers allowed. The Lakers allowed both Charlotte and Miami to shoot around the 53% mark from the floor. Defense is not something the Lakers are known for considering they can usually overcome bad defensive effort with the scoring firepower.

However, there were a ton of uncontested shots given up to Charlotte on Friday which they can not allow against Orlando which is another solid shooting team. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 26 points on Friday, but he was for the most part alone on the scoring end. Andrew Bynum was the next leading scorer with just 14 points in the poor offensive performance and the Lakers must work out the shooting struggles when they take the floor on Sunday. Bryant has been solid averaging 24 points over the last 5 contest. Of course Bryant terrorized the Magic during the Finals last year averaging 32.4 points against Orlando and they will be the first meeting between the two teams this season.

The Magic on the other hand have built up a lot of momentum over the past few games while winning 4 straight and 7 of their last 8. Orlando enters after knocking off the Nets 97-87 on Friday. The Magic jumped all over New Jersey going up 32-18 in the first quarter and held a comfortable lead for the rest of the game. However, Dwight Howard and Vince Carter both stayed on the floor for 40 minutes so it is not like the starters got much rest despite the rather easy victory.

In fact, Howard was held to just 11 points despite still managing to pull down 16 boards. Howard also had a terrible performance a few nights ago against Miami where the Magic’s superstar scored just 7 points and Orlando definitely needs him to be more effective on the scoring end of the floor. Of course Howard is not the sole power to the Orlando offense. Rashard Lewis is averaging 15 points per game and has reached double digit numbers in 21 of his last 22 games. Vince Carter has also played well averaging 16 points on the season. Lewis, Carter, and Jameer Nelson all have the ability to match the Lakers scoring power if the game was to take on a shootout style performance. However, expect Orlando to slow the pace down and try to beat up on Los Angeles on the inside with Howard while making some kick out jump shot opportunities as well.

Pick – I really expect the Lakers to shake off the bad shooting performances of late, but the Magic to keep or even better that pace. Both offenses play well. Take the over 195