The Orlando Magic travel West to take on the Sacramento Kings at the Golden 1 Center on Monday night.
The Magic are coming off a loss to the Phoenix Suns and Orlando has won four out of its last six games played. They are in 2nd place in the Southeast Division behind the Miami Het. The Kings are also coming off a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Sacramento has won three out of their last five games played and they are in 4th place in the loaded Pacific Division. These two teams played each other last January 7th in Sacramento and the Kings won 111-95.
The Orlando Magic lost for only the second time in their last six games when they dropped a 94-98 contest to the Phoenix Suns on Friday night. The loss dropped Orlando to 18-21 on the season and in second place in the Southeast Division where they are 9.5 games behind the pace-setting Miami Heat.
Evan Fournier leads Orlando in scoring at 19.0 points per game while All-Star big man Nikola Vucevic is putting up 18.5 points and 11.3 rebounds per contest. Terence Ross and Aaron Gordon are contributing 13.4 points and 13.1 points per game, respectively and D.J. Augustin leads the team in assists at 4.8 per outing while also scoring 10.8 points per game.
The Magic are the lowest-scoring team in the NBA this season at 103.5 points per game. However, they are also ranked #1 in scoring defense at only 103.3 opponent points per game allowed this year. Orlando is 18th in rebounding at 45.1 boards grabbed per contest and they are 22nd in assists at 22.6 dimes per outing.
The Sacramento Kings were pummelled by the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks 127-106 on Friday night. The loss came after the Kings had won three out of their last four games played. It dropped Sacramento to nine games below the .500 mark at 15-24 on the year and in 4th place in the Pacific Division team standings.
Buddy Hield leads the Kings in scoring at 20.3 points per game while also averaging 5.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest. De’Aaron Fox is putting up 18.5 points and 6.9 assists per game but he has played in only 21 games so far this season. Bogdan Bogdanovic is putting up 14.5 points while Marvin Bagley II is averaging 13.7 points per game for Sacramento
Sacramento ranks 24th in scoring at 106.2 points per game. They are next to last in rebounding at only 42.4 boards hauled per contest and are 23rd in passing at 22.6 dimes per outing. The Kings are allowing the 13th most points this season at 109.0 opponent’s points per game.
Orlando is 4-2 SU in their last six games played. The Magic are 1-5 SU in their last five games played on the road, and 0-5 SU in their last six games against the Western Conference. Sacramento is 3-10 SU in their last 13 games played. The Kings are 2-6 ATS in their last eight games played at home. Head to head, the Kings are 6-4 ATS in their last 10 games played against the Magic.
The Magic will try to get back on track against the struggling Kings who have yet to find consistency this year. Orlando has won four out of its last six games played and although they are coming off a loss to the Phoenix Suns, it was a well-fought close game where Phoenix won behind Devin Booker’s later heroics.
The Kings are also coming off a loss. Theirs was the blowout type against the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks. Sacramento had beaten Golden State and Phoenix is back to back games before that loss. They will try to return to the winning column against an Orlando team that is just 5-13 SU on the road this season.
The Kings have won their last three head to head meetings against the Magic and they have done so by an average winning margin of 10 points per game. Sacramento is 15-4 SU in their last 19 games against the Southeast Division. The Kings are still missing a few key pieces but Orlando is also dealing with their injury issues. The Magic have struggled to win on the road this season. I like the Kings to hold court.
PREDICTION: SACRAMENTO KINGS
The Magic are 5-1 ATS in their last six games played. Orlando is 9-8-1 ATS in 18 road games played this season, and 6-1 ATS in their last seven January games. The Kings are 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games played. Sacramento is 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games played at home, and 0-5 ATS in their last five games against the Eastern Conference. Head to head, the Kings are 5-0 ATS in their last five games played against the Magic.
Both teams are dealing with injuries but the Kings have the edge here because they will be getting Marvin Bagley III back. On the other side of the fence, the Magic won’t have Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac. With the team relying heavily on Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier, I think the Kings have more weapons and are playing at home too.
PREDICTION: KINGS -1.5
The total has gone under in each of the last five games played by the Magic. The under is 2-1 in Orlando’s last three games played. The total has gone under in two out of the last three games played by the Kings. Sacramento has seen the total go under in 11 out of their 19 games played at home. Head to head, the total has gone under in seven out of the last eight meetings between these two teams.
These teams have combined to score an average of 205.8 points per game in their last 10 meetings and 198.0 points per game in their most recent three head to head encounters. Orlando is the lowest-scoring team in the NBA this year and they are also allowing the fewest points per game this season. Sacramento is only 24th in scoring and they are missing Bogdanovic. I like the teams to hit the under.
PREDICTION: UNDER 209.5
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