SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2010 — NBA FREE PICK
Orlando Magic (33-17) at Boston Celtics (32-16), 2:30 p.m. EST, TV: ABC
The Orlando Magic, the first-place team in the Eastern Conference’s Southeast Division, travel to take on the Boston Celtics, the first-place team in the Eastern’s Atlantic Division, at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.
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The Magic lead the season series 2-1. Orlando won the last game, 96-94, on Jan. 28 at Orlando.
Even taking into account an upset loss to the lowly Washington Wizards in their last game, the Magic are playing as good as anybody _ if you don’t count the Cavs, obviously _ in the Eastern Conference. And a lot of that falls squarely on the shoulders of one of the more maligned draft picks in recent history, J.J. Redick. While Redick still comes off the bench for Orlando, his play has elevated his importance on the team to that of a starter, and it has also forced coach Stan Van Gundy to decrease the minutes of Vince Carter so Redick can play more. With the rest of the team staying in lockstep with this decision, expect big things from Redick off the bench. And less from Carter. Which is not a bad thing.
The Celtics have won three in a row, but better be warned, that statistic is deceiving because the wins have come in not-so-convincing fashion against Washington, Miami and New Jersey. With Rajon Rondo acting up in the locker room, Boston is nowhere near where they need to be as a team right now to become a legitimate threat to Cleveland in the Eastern Conference, although that’s not saying much. Maybe it should be “legitimate threat to be the team that loses to Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals.” It’s safe to say that if Bill Walker is getting big minutes, as he has of late, the Celtics haven’t figured out what kind of a team they need to be.
The odds makers have the line OFF on this game.
Orlando has a pretty formulaic gameplan that works almost every time: Run the offense through Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis then go to the hot hand after that. Boston can’t seem to find its identity this year, and unless Kevin Garnett finds a time machine to go back five years and get his old knees back, they could struggle down the stretch.
Look for the Magic to get a big road win and take this one by four points.
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- Orlando is 2-3-1 ATS in its last 6 games
- Orlando is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Orlando’s last 6 games
- Orlando is 4-8-2 ATS in its last 14 games on the road
- Boston is 2-8-1 ATS in its last 11 games
- Boston is 0-4-1 ATS in its last 5 games at home
- Boston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Boston’s last 7 games at home
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