IT’S time for another busy Saturday in the NBA and it’s a tough slate to find a lot of market edges available for everyone.
Here’s a look at the lone standout for me today;
Orlando Magic @ Toronto Raptors
THE Orlando Magic head to Toronto to take on the Raptors. Both teams have struggled to put their best foot forward and both will be looking to try and use this opportunity to springboard towards some positive momentum in the coming weeks.
The Raptors in particular have been a mixed bag to start the season, with Nick Nurse’s men showing the best and worst of themselves often within the same 48 minutes of games.
The team certainly has the talent available to succeed at both ends of the floor and we have seen glimpses of their true potential; putting all that together might just happen against this Orlando team.
Toronto holds significant advantages on the offensive glass and mid-range scoring that they’ll be able to exploit on this Orlando defence, but what’s more is that they have really shown themselves to be a willing team in transition off live rebounds and that could be what lends itself to a surprisingly high-paced game.
Orlando will have their chances at scoring here as well, with Toronto’s excellent swarming defence still vulnerable to exposure from deep. The Magic certainly aren’t shy to let it fly from deep this season where they currently sit top-5 in 3-point frequency per game.
As a team, they are actually top-10 in Location EFG% which does indicate that the team is generating good offensive looks that could be due for some positive variance in their scoring.
Defensively, the Magic are a complete non-factor and are basically allowing teams to score in any way they like to start the year.
If Toronto can push the tempo and keep scoring efficiently against a defence that has allowed every team they’ve faced this season to do just that then we just find ourselves in a position to capitalise on a very inviting total.
I’m projecting this game to land around 216 points so we have a really decent market edge on the current number, which has been bet down too far in my books.
Our best bet: Over 206.0 points
