Tuesday NBA: Magic (57-19) at Rockets (49-28)
Easily the best NBA matchup of Tuesday night is in Houston, where the Rockets host the Orlando Magic, with both teams looking to finish No. 2 in their respective conferences by the end of the regular season.
Orlando has opened as a 1-point favorite on WagerWeb.com, with an over/under of 188.5.
That the Magic are favored against Houston is quite surprising, considering that Houston beat the Magic in Orlando earlier this season and has won seven in a row in this series and covered in 11 of the past 13 meetings.
The main reason for the Magic’s issues against Houston is because of Yao Ming dominating Dwight Howard.
Howard, averaging a career-high 21.1 points and a league-best 14.0 rebounds this season, has been held to 12.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in nine career games against the Rockets. A career 56.9 percent shooter from the field, he’s connected on 45.9 percent against Houston.
Yao, meanwhile, has averaged 24.0 points and 9.8 rebounds while shooting 55.6 percent in eight games against the Magic since Howard came into the league. In the 100-95 Houston win in November, Howard was in major foul trouble against Yao, who had had 22 points and 13 boards while Howard had 13 points and nine rebounds.
However, that first game was a tad misleading, perhaps, because three Rockets who were big contributors that night, Tracy McGrady, Rafer Alston and Carl Landry, won’t be playing tonight. McGrady and Landry are hurt, while Alston is now with the Magic.
A win Tuesday would be the Magic’s 58th this season, becoming the second winningest team in franchise history, and the Magic are 18-5 since acquiring Alston at the trade deadline to replace an injured Jameer Nelson.
Alston credits Nelson with his success: “He’s actually helped me have a full grasp of the plays and certain sets, where to expect certain guys to be,” Alston said.
The Rockets are 31-8 at home, which equals the best single-season win total at Toyota Center (31-10 in 2007-08).
WagerWeb.com Trends
* Underdog is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.
* Magic are 2-11 ATS in the last 13 meetings.
* Road team is 6-1 ATS in the last 7 meetings.
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