Boston Celtics at Orlando Magic Preview

Added on Mar 25, 2009 by sbworld in

Two of the three best Eastern Conference NBA teams will meet up on Tuesday and there is an odd betting line for this premier matchup. The Boston Celtics lead the Atlanta division by 16.5 games with a 54-18 record while the Orlando Magic are in charge of the Southeast Division with a comparable 52-18 mark. If the playoffs started today, the Celtics would be ahead of the Magic by just a game so this is a very important game for both squads.

5Dimes.com has the betting odds favoring the home-team Orlando Magic by 3.5 points with an over/under betting total numbered at 191.5 after originally coming out at 192 and catching some quick steam.

The betting line is a bit weird considering the Celtics came in to Orlando earlier this season as 4.5-point underdogs and escaped with an easy 90-80 victory. Boston also won by 19 earlier this season in a home game and the only loss this year comes from when Boston forward Kevin Garnett was injured and unavailable. Garnett is back in the lineup but there are still some issues with his playing team.

One of the main reasons why the home-team Orlando Magic is favored on the betting odds is due to Kevin Garnett’s limited minutes that are expected to play a part here. Garnett missed roughly 15 games with an injury but has now been back for 2 games, although his minutes remain low. After speculation that Garnett would return to normal minutes for this Tuesday night contest, coach Doc Rivers had some comments that made everyone think twice. “He’s still not ready for long minutes,” said Rivers. “If we can’t get the top seed, we want to be healthy.” Look for Garnett to play only 20 minutes or so in this one after he played just over 17 in Boston’s last game, a 90-77 win over the Los Angeles Clippers that saw the Celtics fail to cover the fairly large 15-point betting odds.

Most bet-tracking websites that count the number of bets on each team seem to show a preference for the Boston Celtics as small underdogs with nearly 65-75% favoring the road team depending on which website you use.

The underdog has covered the point spread in 6 of the last 8 meetings between these teams with the home team getting the cover in 21 of the last 29 matchups. It should be a great game to watch even if Garnett plays half of his normally allotted minutes. This game will have playoff intensity considering the stakes and is a can’t miss NBA contest for Tuesday night.