Ours are out, and they're telling us that the Orlando Magic are an excellent play to beat the Detroit Pistons (the 'Stones) in the Eastern Conference Semifinals series that starts tonight in Detroit.Any good Cleveland sports fan who's been around the block knows that the NBA Playoffs are where new blood comes to a boil. We saw it with LeBron last season, and it reminded us an awful lot of when the then-upstart Bulls sent our Daugherty, Price, Nance, Hot Rod and company packing in the 1989 Conference Finals. We think that the Pistons are a prime candidate for a scalding once again this year. Magic star Dwight Howard averaged 22.6 points, 18.2 rebounds and 3.8 blocks in Orlando's 4-1 series win over the Raptors. The former first overall draft pick has developed into a legitimate superstar. If you had to pick one guy to start a franchise with right now, he'd almost certainly be your number two pick behind LeBron. Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, and Jameer Nelson provide a solid supporting cast for Howard. If we can't say for certain that this year's playoffs is Howard's time to shine, we can say that it's damn near close enough to make the Magic an easy pick as 2.5 to 1 underdogs. To clarify, a play of 100 magic stones on Orlando would net you a profit of 250 if they come through.
The Magic and Stones split their regular season series, with each team winning a close game, and a blowout. Detroit swept Orlando in the first round of last year's playoffs, but that was a different Magic team, which didn't have it's second and third leading scorers, Turkoglu and Lewis (who can both play like stars on any given night). Moreover, the experience from last year can only help the Howard and the Magic in this year's series.We think that Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was trying to complement the Pistons when he recently called them basketball's version of the Atlanta Braves. We think the comparison is particularly apt because, despite all of their regular season success, the Braves have been bounced from the early rounds of the Playoffs in every season in recent memory. Being a team of veteran professionals who know how to endure the grind of the regular season and show up day after day is one thing. As the Pistons learned from LeBron last year, the playoffs are something different. We think the creaky-legged Pistons know this deep down, and will settle well into the role of washed up playoff losers. The Pick: Orlando Magic +240 /100 over Detroit Pistons to win the series.
2 comments:
Solid reasoning and it looks good through one. I am way too short-term focused to bet on a series though. The Hawks are getting 14.5 today. $250 to win 220. I'll take that. Hell, that's a game I could've been tempted into taking a money line. Probably a good thing Sportsbook isn't given one.
You wouldnt have done too good.
Good series by the Hawks though. Solid showing.
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