Washington Ready to Show Up Against Magic in Meaningless Game

The Orlando Magic secured the NBA Southeast Division title last night even though they didn’t hit the hardwood. Because the Atlanta Hawks lost to the Charlotte Bobcats yesterday, last year’s Eastern Conference representative in the NBA Finals won their second straight divisional title.

The Magic will look to show the world why they are one of the favorites to bring a championship ring back to Mickey’s Second Kingdom when they host the visiting Washington Wizards as huge favorites in the NBA sportsbook on Wednesday. Even though the Magic have been winning games, and have a winning record at home ATS of 21-16-1, they haven’t been all that successful against the spread going 5-4-1 ATS in their last 10 games. Vince Carter is only probable for Wednesday but they might not need him versus the Washington Wizards.

Below are the NBA betting odds for this game.

Washington Wizards +13 ½ -110 O 194 ½ -110
Orlando Magic -13 ½ -110 U 194 ½ -110

The trends do give the Wizards some hope against the spread in this game.

• The Washington Wizards are 5 and 1 ATS in their last 6 games as a road underdog of 11 points or greater.
• The Washington Wizards are 4 and 1 ATS in their last 5 games overall.
• The Orlando Magic is 8 and 2 ATS in their last 10 games versus a team with a losing record straight-up.
• The Orlando Magic is 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 games as the favorite.

The Magic is supposed to win this game. The money-line in the basketball sportsbook lists the Magic as -2000 favorites, but, every sports gambler knows how hard it is to cover a 13 ½ point spread. Just last night, the women’s Connecticut Huskies were up 16 points at one time over the Stanford Cardinal before winning the game by only 6 and failing to cover a 14 point spread.

The last time these two teams met Orlando beat Washington 109 to 95. That was in mid-March. This Washington team has no business being on the same floor as the terrific Orlando Magic, but they do have one thing going for them.

The Magic not only secured the Southeast Division but they also secured the 2nd seed in the playoffs. Orlando has no shot at catching the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 1st seed. What does it mean? First, it means that the Magic aren’t going to let Vince Carter hurt himself even more on Wednesday night against the hapless Wizards.

Carter will play for a few minutes if at all in this game. Second, they aren’t going to put Dwight Howard in danger so soon to the playoffs. So Superman might find himself on the bench for long stretches in this game.

Will Orlando beat the Wizards? I’m not even sure about that as the Magic has nothing to play for while the Wizards will try their best. One thing I am confident about is the fact that the Magic won’t lay it all out on the line to take down the Wizards.

So I’m going with the Wizards to cover the spread in this one even though almost every trend and stat I can find says betting the Magic is the way to go.

Pick: Washington Wizards +13 ½