Basketball betting features the New Orleans Hornets hosting the Orlando Magic on Friday in a game that can be seen on ESPN. The Magic beat the Hornets earlier this month in Orlando by a score of 123-117 but they did not cover the NBA betting line.
Basketball betting has seen the Magic win six of the last ten against the Hornets but they are just 4-6 against the spread. The teams have split the last four meetings in New Orleans. Usually when these two teams meet the games are low scoring but the last two have gone well over the basketball betting total. The Hornets are a tough team to predict sometimes as they have enough talent to win but they could be overmatched against the Magic in this basketball betting contest.
In the game earlier this month the Hornets blew a 17-point lead and lost as Vince Carter had a season-high 48 points. Dwight Howard had 25 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. Peja Stojakovic led the Hornets with 29 points, while David West and Darren Collison each scored 27 points.
Orlando has been just about 50-50 on the road in basketball betting this season. The Magic are in the top 10 in both scoring and in defense. The Magic are one of the teams in the NBA that gets a lot of respect in NBA betting so they are oftentimes overpriced. It used to be that you could take Orlando on the road in every game and show a profit but that has not been the case this season in NBA betting.
New Orleans has a winning record straight up but in the tough Western Conference that is not enough to get into the playoffs. The Hornets are on the outside looking in right now so every win is critical if they hope to make the playoffs. New Orleans has not been very good at home versus the basketball betting line as they are 13-15. The stats simply don’t look that great for the Hornets as they are outside the top 10 on both offense and defense. The Hornets are missing Chris Paul who will not be back until next month and that makes taking New Orleans a bit risky in basketball betting. The only thing that helps them in NBA betting is that they are usually getting points without Paul in the lineup.