Marquee NBA Betting Preview – San Antonio vs. Orlando

The Spurs are coming off a rousing 88-76 win over the Miami Heat to keep the good times rolling for the Spurs. Whenever you lose a star player like Tony Parker, it’s important for a team to show the kind of resiliency that defines a champion and that’s exactly what the Spurs are doing. Ironically, heading down the home stretch without a star point-guard was exactly what Orlando Magic had to do last betting season.

At present time, however, Orlando is at full strength and they’re doing everything they can to close the gap with Cleveland. They sit 6-games behind the conference leaders, and a brutal loss to Charlotte snapped a eight-game winning streak. In the past 10 games overall, Orlando is 8-2 SU and 6-4 ATS.

The head-to-head NBA betting trends don’t reveal too much about this particular matchup. They last played on January 11 th, 2009 and Orlando won in San Antonio 105-98. That brought their ten-game history to an even 5-5 SU and Orlando has a slight leg up with a 6-4 ATS record in the series.

San Antonio Spurs (40-25) vs. Orlando Magic (47-21)

Wednesday, March 17 th --- Amway Arena --- 8:00pm EST

NBA Betting Line: Orlando -7 (193)

For all the matchup problems that Orlando has given their athletic ability, sterling shooting and dominating center-play from Dwight Howard, they actually are toe-to-toe with the San Antonio Spurs. Howard may be much more athletic than Tim Duncan has ever been, but there’s a reason we call Duncan “The Big Fundamental”.

Following a 22-point effort last night, Manu Ginobli hasn’t played all that well against the Magic. Last year he averaged just 14.0 points in two games. However, tonight he gets to unleash his offense against Vince Carter and that’s a matchup the keen betting sharps have to love. Manu has been the engine for the Spurs’ offense lately and everyone is familiar with Vince’s dislike of playing stiff defensive ball.

That’s why I’m on the side of the Spurs. Duncan won’t be scared or intimidated by Howard, and if anything he’ll be more than willing to display his veteran moves to the best big man in the game. San Antonio is 5-0 ATS in their past 5 games, and are 4-1 SU during that stretch on the road.

Until the bubble bursts on San Antonio’s betting line success, I’m not shying away from them. They’ve won me too much money lately to suddenly abandon ship.