Orlando Magic at Cleveland Cavs: Game 1 Preview

NBA Playoff betting at Bookmaker Sportsbook will be kicked into high gear Wednesday night when the Orlando Magic (67-28, 55-39-1 ATS) and Cleveland Cavaliers (74-16, 57-32-1 ATS) lock horns in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals. After winning its first round series in six games against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Magic pushed the defending champion Boston Celtics to a seventh and deciding game on Sunday. They proved worthy of matching up with the Eastern Conference’s #1 seed after dominating the Celtics en route to the 101-82 outright victory as 2.5-point underdogs. The Cavaliers have been off since May the 11th after they wrapped their four-game set up with the Atlanta Hawks pushing as 10-point Phillips Arena favorites. The push saw the Cavaliers fail to cash their NBA betting backers tickets for the first time in 11 tries.

Game 1 finds Cleveland installed as hefty 8.5-point home favorites while the game ‘total’ has been set at 184.5-points.

Dwight “Superman” Howard and the Magic were stellar on two days rest this season going 14-3 SU and a $$$-making 12-5 ATS. They were also one of the better road teams the NBA had to offer going 31-17 SU & 30-18 ATS (4-3 SU & 3-4 ATS in 2009 Playoffs). That said; Cleveland topped the charts ATS for NBA bettors throughout the entirety of the 2009 NBA betting season evidenced by it sitting 25-games over .500 in the ATS department. It also fared well with plenty of rest winning five of its six games both SU & ATS with 3+ days to relax. The Cavs were home favorites of 6.5-9 points 13 times this season; they went 13-0 SU & 10-3 ATS in those games. They also covered all six of their games in the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals against the Detroit Pistons.

Total players take note: These two clubs have battled to the ‘under’ in 7 of the L/10 overall meetings, and its cashed for pro basketball bettors in four of the L/5 meetings in Cleveland. Orlando really turned its defensive play up a couple notches when opposed by solid offensive teams evidenced by the ‘under’ going 29-11 ATS against opponents that averaged 99+ points per game this season. The ‘under’ is also a perfect 8-0 ATS in the Cavaliers L/8 playoff games when installed a favorite between 5-10.5 points.

The under is 10-4 ATS the L/14 times the Lakers were installed a road favorite of 6.5 to 9-points, and its 9-3 ATS in the Lakers L/12 overall road games. As for Houston, the ‘under’ is 6-1 ATS in its L/7 home games and it’s 4-1 ATS after the Rockets allowed 100 points or more in its previous game. That said; this is a different Houston team than the one that built up those season long trends.

These clubs squared off three times throughout the 2008-09 NBA betting regular season with Orlando winning two of the three games SU. They did however cover the spread in all three starting with their first meeting back on January 29th. The Magic won by a 99-88 final count as five-point home favorites with Jameer Nelson still in the starting five. Their second match-up occurred a month and a half later in the “Q” on St. Patrick’s Day where Lebron James went off for 43-points, but the Cavs failed to cover the 6.5-point spread winning 97-93. The series finale came in early May and Orlando rolled. Seven Magic players scored in double figures en route to the decisive 116-87 home win and cover as 3.5-point home favorites. The 203-point combined score snapped a string of four straight under’s in the series.

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