FREE PICK: (505) TORONTO RAPTORS -6.5
I’ve always felt that getting to view teams early in the season is necessary if one wants to get a true feel for what they have. So even though, for my own personal tastes, I’d rather watch the NHL than the NBA, I’m trying to catch as much pro hoops as possible out of the starting gate. The early views are the key for me in sizing up tonight’s clash between Toronto and Orlando.
The Raptors went wire to wire in their opening win over Atlanta. The Hawks did make it interesting right near the finish, but this was a game Toronto pretty much controlled most of the way. Toronto is not good enough to make a serious run at the top of the Eastern Conference, but they do appear to be a pretty good basketball team that should have little difficulty making the playoffs.
As for the Orlando Magic, the only way they’ll be near the court come the post-season is if someone buys the guys on the team some primo tickets. This is one weak entry. I watched the Orlando loss at New Orleans, and if all you saw was the final score, you might not have any idea of how lopsided the game really was. Had the Pelicans made a few of their outside shots, or not managed to somehow short less than 50% from the foul line, this would have been a 30 point loss for Orlando.
The Magic also lost their second outing of the season as they were defeated by the Wizards. I’ll give Orlando credit for making it interesting late, as they slashed a big Washington lead to just a deuce inside the final minute before succumbing by seven.
The one most alarming weakness for the Magic is at point guard, where rookie Elfrid Payton is simply not close to being ready just yet. Payton is going to get turned over on a regular basis, and at least for the time being, it sure looks like the game is moving too fast for him. I think he’s a talented player who I really enjoyed seeing at the college level. But Payton is going to get overmatched frequently in his first trip around the league, and I think Kyle Lowry eats him up tonight.
My sense is that Orlando might be even worse than projected, and I don’t know anyone who thought very highly of this team prior to the start of the season. Toronto is the superior team, and with this being the first road game for the Raptors, I would imagine it will have their full attention. Road chalk often is a pretty good bet in the first handful of days of the season, and they’ve done well out of this year’s starting gate. My guess is that if these teams were to meet on this court a couple weeks from now, we’d probably be looking at Toronto being perhaps as high as -9. Thus, the page for this game isn’t bad at all, and I’ll recommend laying it with the Raptors.
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