Boston Celtics VS Orlando Magic Pick & Preview: NBA on ESPN

Listen, I believe the Magic will even out the series. I’m pretty big on giving a percent of likeliness, and I’d say the Magic have a 70% chance to win on Tuesday Night. They are playing at home, down 1-0, have rest and youth on their side, and the Celtics have been known to put up questionable performances here and there. This might be here, and it’s definitely there.

I don’t see the Orlando Magic going  5 for 22 from three-point-land again. And despite the Celtics quality defense, the Magic are going to cut down on those 18 turnovers.

There are lots of things that are going Orlando’s way, everything besides the fact that Boston is playing Championship level basketball, and right now, they are as good as they’ve been since their title run in Year 1 of the Big Three. KG and Rasheed still pull Dwight away from the key (despite his 5 blocks last game) and they can play great post defense as a team (Dwight 3 for 10 from the floor in Game 1). The Celtics are old, and haven’t gotten the rest that Orlando has been afforded after sweeping the Hawks…

But I don’t see the Celtics coming out flat against the Magic – it just doesn’t make sense. They aren’t favored in this series, and they know they can’t take the Celtics lightly. I’m giving Boston a 30% chance to win outright, and those 7.5 points just barely give them the edge over Orlando against the spread. These two teams have played a lot of close games, and I wouldn’t be surprised if another one came right down to the wire.

Boston Celtics (+7.5) @ Orlando Magic (5-18: 8:30 PM ET – ESPN)