The Orlando Magic will face the Los Angeles Lakers tonight and are 2.5 point underdogs and sitting at +125 on the moneyline. The Lakers will be playing in the latter half of a B2B, after going into overtime last night against the Kings. LeBron James is probable tonight, but it has been said that the Lakers will try to limit his minutes throughout the course of the season. If he is to play, we do expect him to be limited to some extent. The Magic defense has been elite so far, allowing just 91.5 points per game and holding their opponents to a 40% FG%. On the other side of the ball, the Magic’s offense has been decent, averaging around 109 PPG, but they have been held back by their perimeter shooting (29% from three). However, they have multiple guys like Franz Wagner, Cole Anthony, Joe Ingles, and Gary Harris, who are more than capable of knocking down 3s, so we expect some positive regression here against a Lakers defense that has allowed teams to make threes at 35.4% rate. Between the Magic’s great defense and the Lakers running on tired legs, we expect the Magic to have success on both sides of the ball and come out with a win.
