Magic Stones Game 2 Pick

After sitting for a few extra days upon easily disposing of the Toronto Raptors in 5 games, we expected the Orlando Magic to come out rusty in Game 1 of their series with Detroit. We like their chances to right the ship tonight in Game 2. The Magic rely on the 3-point shot, but only made two on Saturday; their lowest output of the year. Magic star Dwight Howard only scored 12 points, to go with 6 rebounds and no blocks -- his lowest output of the postseason by far. We’ll chalk this up to the long layoff and opening night jitters. While the Magic played Detroit close through the first three quarters, they never found their rhythm. In keeping with our series play, we think that things can only get better for the Magic tonight. Plus, the Pistons are running their mouths, which is dumb. We’ll join the 27% of Game 2 players at Sportsbook.com who are taking the points tonight. The pick: Orlando Magic +6.5 over Detroit Pistons.

Update - 5/6/08 -8:43 AM: The Magic's 100-93 loss was what we call in the business "a bad beat" for those who took the points last night. Dwight Howard was vastly improved last night, pulling down 22 points and 28 boards, and the Magic were knocking down their threes (11-26). Down by 2 with roughly 30 seconds left in the game it looked like they had the cover locked up, but they couldn't make a play in those last 30 seconds and the Pistons hit all of their free throws to finish ahead by 7. Making matters worse, the referees mishandled a clock malfunction by allowing a Chauncey Billups' three-pointer at the end of the third period to stand, even though replays showed that it should have been disallowed. A bad beat. The last thing we'll say is that as Magic backers, we'd rather see the ball in Hedo Turkoglu's hands instead of Rashard Lewis's at the end of a game. We'll be back later this afternoon with a look at tonight's NBA action.