Magic – Trailblazers

The shorthanded Orlando Magic will take on the Portland Trailblazers on Friday night in the NBA.

Orlando (11-18, 6-7 home) had a great start to the season, but things slowly started to go downhill, and recent injuries have not helped their situation. The Magic have just 3 wins in their last 17 games (!!), and those victories were against a dysfunctional Thunder team, against a decimated Knicks side and against the lowly Atlanta Hawks. Last time out, Orlando lost at home to a Clippers team which was missing 4 starters.

The Blazers (14-13, 7-5 away) went through some struggles of their own recently, but they managed to steady the ship and remain in a good position to make the playoffs in the West. After 5 consecutive losses, the TrailBlazers won by 7 points in Miami a couple of nights ago, and did so while missing Jusuf Nurkic. They will definitely fancy their chances for another road win tonight against Eastern Conference opposition.

Team news: The Magic will miss one of their best players, Fournier, along with another starter, Ross. They will also be without key role player Isaac. What`s worse, Gordon and Aflallo are questionable, so Orlando will miss between 3 and 5 key players here. As for the Blazers, Nurkic is listed as questionable.

The Magic are playing very poor basketball lately, and all these new injuries are hurting them big time. Orlando doesn`t have the quality or the depth to deal with multiple starters missing out, and that was obvious in their last game against the Clippers.

Portland is a better team here, they are coming after a morale boosting victory and they should have more than enough firepower to win this game even if Nurkic was to miss out. As an educated guess, I expect he`ll be out, and I`m making my pick with that in mind.

The Blazers have also been very good away from home this season, so this looks to me like a probable road win. My tip is Portland to win and cover the 3 point (asian) handicap in the proccess. Odds might vary until game time depending on whether Gordon and / or Nurkic play, but I`m satisfied with the price currently on offer – and it`s too late to wait any longer anyway in terms of publishing my analysis. Prediction: Orlando Magic – Portland Trailblazers 100 – 110.

Pick: Blazers -3
Odds: 1.85 @ 1xBet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 6.80
Event date: 15 December