Orlando Magic at Oklahoma City Thunder 2011 NBA Preview, Odds, and Predictions: Center Dwight Howard will lead the Orlando Magic on the road to the Ford Center at Oklahoma City Arena to take on the reigning scoring champion Kevin Durant and his Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night at 8:00 PM ET on TNT. The Thunder enter the game on a 3 game winning streak at 26-13 1st in the Northwest while the Magic have won 9 of 10 and are at 25-10 2nd in the Southeast. Howard aka Superman missed 2 free throws that could have put the Magic ahead will 11 seconds remaining in OT and given them a franchise record 10 consecutive wins. “We didn’t play well enough or hard enough to win,” Coach Stan Van Gundy told the Magic’s official website. “We’ve survived a few games here and gotten wins when we haven’t put together a complete game. We’re in some bad habits right now of not playing all 48 minutes. It bit us and hopefully we’ll learn from it and move on.” The Thunder’s offense revolves around Durant who presents a matchup problem for most teams with his size and ability to score from anywhere on the court. The odds makers at Bodog have the Orlando Magic a -1 1/2 point favorite on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Magic lost 92-89 to the New Orleans Hornets on the road in overtime to move to 16-21-1 ATS for the season. Dwight Howard led Orlando with 29 points and 20 rebounds while Jason Richardson poured in 20 points and pulled down 7 boards. Forward-center Ryan Anderson came off the bench to add 14 points and 8 rebounds as the only other Magic player in double figures. Orlando is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing Oklahoma City and the total has gone UNDER in 6 of last 8 games when playing on the road against Oklahoma City. Vegas odds makers have the Orlando Magic +900 to win the 2010-2011 NBA Championship.
The Thunder continued its 3 game winning streak most recently on the road 118-112 against the Houston Rockets moving them to a respectable 21-18 ATS for the season. Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 30 points and 6 boards and is leading the NBA in scoring with a 28.3 point per game average. The total has gone OVER in 5 of last 6 games at home and they are 9-2 SU in its last 11 games at home. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 203 points combined of the Orlando Magic and Oklahoma City Thunder.
I like the Thunder and the points to win at home!
Note: Rich Fritz is a Blog Writer on NSAwins.com and not a pro handicapper. For expert NFL Football Predictions against the Vegas spreads please visit the NSAwins.com homepage for top predictions today from the National Sports Advisors.