NBA Basketball Matchup: Magic vs Pistons
Although Glen Davis came away with a sold performance in the Magic’s last outing, he is still not three-time reigning defensive player of the year, Dwight Howard.
Date/Time: 7:30 PM ET, Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Venue: The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan
Broadcast: FSD
Spread: Orlando -5
Over/Under: 183 -110
And to make matters worse, Orlando will have to see what kind of proxy they can come up with to replace recently injured Ryan Anderson, whose absence will have more than likely have huge implications on their perimeter shooting. Anderson leads the league in 3-pointers (150) and attempts (363).
The Magic (32-21) have only been without their 2004 number one draft pick Howard just eight times, and Sunday’s 104-101 loss to Denver at home could only be an indication of what the Magic are in for without their superstar center who is dealing with back spasms and missed his first game of the 2011 season.
Nevertheless, Davis steeped in and netted 18 points and grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds in Howard’s place, but it wasn’t enough to counter a 55.6 shooting performance by the Nuggets who also dominated Orlando inside, scoring 44 points in the paint.
Davis will likely get the call again on Tuesday, and will have the daunting task of matching up with Pistons center Greg Monroe who is scoring almost 15 to go with nearly 10 rebounds per game.
To make things even more difficult for the Magic, who are clinging to one of the top four seeds and home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs, they will face a Detroit squad that is 7-2 in its last nine at home, while Orlando has dropped four of six on the road. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
But even so the Pistons (19-33) have struggled virtually all season long and currently trail eighth-place New York by 7 1/2 games.
However, they should be plenty positive knowing they will not have to face Howard and enter this contest with a copiousness of confidence following Saturday’s 110-107 overtime victory over Charlotte, although they were without the services of Rodney Stuckey and Ben Gordon who missed his third game in a row.
Gordon did return to practice Monday and is expected to play Tuesday.
Even more good news for Detroit, as Gordon had a team-high 26 points in a 89-78 home win over Orlando on Jan. 2.
Free Pick: Detroit–The Pistons have all the advantages in this one, including home court.
