Posted on 3/4/2008 1:43:10 PM

NBA Betting - Furious Free Picks Raptors Vs. Magic

By Tim Furious

Toronto Raptors (32-26) vs. Orlando Magic (38-23)

Tuesday, March 4th --- Amway Arena, Orlando --- 7:00pm EST

NBA Betting Line: Orlando -9.5 (209)

I know the title of this article is overstating the already obvious truth, but the Raptors betting faithful need to be careful in the coming games. Chris Bosh was injured in the tilt against Indiana with a knee injury. When Charlotte owned the Raptors 110-98, it became obvious that Toronto desperately needs CB4 to warrant any attention from the betting community.

Up until the two losses, Toronto had been decimating teams by 10+ points throughout the previous 16 games. They had driven the total in to the OVER in 6 of their last 8 games while rewarding their betting investors. While the Raptors have an insane amount of shooting depth off the bench, it’s hard to imagine who’s going to make up Bosh’s 22.6 points per game and 8.9 rebounds. Bosh is the only Raptor scoring more than 15+ points per game on average, and a huge reason they rake in 100.2 points per game as a team.

As a road team, the Raptors are only 15-13 ATS and that is a trend that you can expect to level out tonight in Orlando. Toronto is 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games when playing Orlando, but without Bosh it’s impossible to get behind them. The Magic have gone 4-1 ATS and 4-1 SU in their past 5 games,

A convincing 26-point thrashing of the New York Knicks proved that this Magic squad can be very dangerous in a game where Dwight “The Real Superman” Howard poured in a monster performance of 26 points and 22 boards. With Howard’s heroic play setting the defensive gameplan of opposing teams, Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis have been left in single coverage and reaping the rewards. Hedo nearly had a triple-double in the Magic’s last game, while Rashard Lewis is still having a very solid season with 18.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

With the combination of Lewis and Howard, Andrea Bargnani will be left with the bulk of defending the two 7-footers. It’s not a task that the Marinara Sauce is up to, quite frankly. While his offensive punch is getting stronger, Bargnani is still not strong enough to bang down low with the physical specimens of today’s NBA.

The battle between Jameer Nelson and El Calderon will be a great one. Nelson is averaging 5.6 helpers a game to go along with 10.8 points per, but only turns the ball over 2.2 times on average. While that may worry the Magic’s betting faithful, Calderon is not a defensive stud. In fact, nobody on the Raptors really is aside from Bosh. Which is why the Magic will romp the Raptors in this matchup.

The Raptors will counter the dominating performance of Dwight with their perimeter shooting, which is perhaps the only reason Toronto will be able to keep up. Take this game in the OVER, but expect the Magic to pull away in the fourth quarter once the big men for Toronto find themselves in deep foul trouble early on.

The Magic need to exact revenge on the Raptors for the myriad of crushing defeats that they have suffered at the hands of their Eastern Conference foes. When Bosh is back, it will be a different story. But for now, bet on the Magic with any single digit spread.

NBA Free Pick: Orlando -9.5 (OVER)

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