Senior Writer Vegas Matty previews previews the Portland Trail Blazers at Orlando Magic from an NBA spread standpoint.
The Orlando Magic (40-23) will again get to find out what life is like without their NBA MVP candidate on Monday when they host the Portland Trail Blazers (35-27). The Magic (-3) will not have All-Star center Dwight Howard in the lineup due to a one-game suspension he received after picking up his 16th technical foul of the season on Friday in an 89-81 home loss to Chicago.
Howard scored a team-high 20 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds against the Bulls, who outrebounded Orlando by a 50-30 margin. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Magic that included key victories against Miami (99-96) and New York (116-110). The team split two games earlier this season against Detroit and Milwaukee that Howard missed with a stomach virus, but those two teams combined have just 11 more wins than the Trail Blazers.
Meanwhile, Portland has won consecutive games after losing two in a row and begins a four-game road trip in Orlando. The Trail Blazers have won their last five road games – going 4-0-1 against the spread – and are coming off a 93-69 rout of Charlotte at home on Saturday, limiting the Bobcats to 1 of 10 shooting from behind the 3-point arc. LaMarcus Aldridge also continued his strong play despite being snubbed from the All-Star Game, scoring a game-high 26 points in addition to totaling seven rebounds.
Aldridge has scored 20 points or more in 10 of the team’s last 12 games, averaging nearly 27 points per game during that stretch. He figures to be the biggest beneficiary of Howard’s absences after making just 5 of 15 shots and scoring 14 points in a 97-83 home win against the Magic in their only regular-season meeting back on December 9. Howard enjoyed a monster game of 39 points and 15 rebounds in that game, but the Blazers still outscored Orlando in the paint 50-30 and had a 10-0 edge in fast-break points.
The UNDER has cashed in three of Portland’s last four games along with the last three meetings with the Magic, who have also seen the UNDER go 11-2 in their past 13 games overall. The Trail Blazers have won and covered each of the last two meetings as home underdogs, and the home team is 7-3-1 ATS in the past 11 games between the teams. Portland has lost in four of its last five trips to Orlando.
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