Boston Celtics (7-3) vs Orlando Magic (6-5)
Game Info: Friday, January 15, 2021 at 7:30 pm (TD Garden)
Betting Odds: Boston Celtics -3.5 -- Over/Under: 213.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
The Orlando Magic pay a visit to the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden on Friday night.
The Orlando Magic have been in decent form this season as they’ve won six of their first 11 games and they will be looking to snap a three-game skid after having their last game postponed. In Monday’s 121-99 home loss to the Bucks, Nikola Vucevic led the team with 28 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, Aaron Gordon added 21 points with eight assists while Cole Anthony chipped in with 12 points. As a team, the Magic shot just 42 percent from the field and 11 of 31 from the 3-point line as they hung with the Bucks to trail by just four points after three quarters, before things unraveled in the fourth quarter where they were outscored by 35-17 as the Bucks finished in a flurry.
Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics started their season with seven wins in their first 10 games, but they haven’t seen the floor since Jan 8 as they’ve had their last three games postponed. Jayson Tatum has been leading the way with averages of 26.9 points per game, Jaylen Brown is averaging 26.3 points per game while Marcus Smart is averaging 12.2 points and 6.4 assists per game. As a team, the Celtics are averaging 113 points per game while shooting 48 percent from the field and 39.2 percent from the 3-point line, but it’s tough to know who is going to feature on Friday as the Celtics are reportedly without key players Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Tristan Thompson for this one.
Looking at the betting trends, the Magic are 13-5-1 ATS in their last 19 road games, 7-18-1 ATS in their last 26 games against a team with a winning record and 2-5 ATS in their last seven games overall. The Celtics are 4-1 ATS in their last five home games and 5-2 ATS in their last seven games overall.
Head to head, the over is 6-2 in the last eight meetings in Boston and the Magic are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings in Boston.
The fact that this game hasn't been postponed means that the Celtics have at least eight players available, but it's hard to know who is going to show up on Friday. This looks like a great opportunity for the Magic to snag one, but they've really cooled off after a quick start to the season. Even though the Celtics will be short in this one, they will be eager to get their season back on track and I think the healthy players will still be good enough to beat this slumping Magic team who have injuries of their own.