NBA Picks 2/25 – Cleveland Cavaliers @ Orlando Magic

NBA Picks 2/25 – Cleveland Cavaliers @ Orlando Magic

by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

The NBA-leading Cleveland Cavaliers (47-10) visit the Orlando Magic (29-30) tonight at Kia Center on TNT. This is the second of three meetings between Cleveland and Orlando. Cleveland knocked off visiting Orlando 120-109 in the first matchup on Nov. 1. The teams will face each other for a final time on March 16 in Cleveland. Cleveland is a 6.5-point favorite and the total is 224.

The Cavaliers and Magic squared off in a hotly contested series in the first round of the playoffs last season. The fourth-seeded Cavaliers outlasted the fifth-seeded Magic in seven games. Cleveland won the decisive Game Seven at home 106-94. Cleveland trailed by 18 points in the first half of that game. They became the first team in NBA history to trail a Game Seven by 10+ points and then win by 10+ points. The home team won every game in the series. 

Cleveland won a 129-123 track meet against the visiting Memphis Grizzlies in their last game on Sunday night. Cavs superstar Donovan Mitchell registered a game-high 33 points (11-23 FG, 4-8 3Pt, 7-11 FT) along with six assists in 35 minutes. Evan Mobley added 25 points (10-20 FG, 1-8 3Pt, 4-6 FT), 13 rebounds, a season-high eight assists and three blocks over 36 minutes. Ty Jerome chipped in with 26 points (9-16 FG, 3-7 3Pt, 5-6 FT), five rebounds, four assists and two steals in 23 minutes off the bench. Jerome scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter. 

The Cavaliers defeated Memphis without the services of All-Star guard Darius Garland who bruised his left hip against New York on Friday night. Garland is questionable for tonight’s game in Orlando. Cleveland has won seven straight games which is the longest active winning streak in the NBA. They improved to 27-4 at home with the victory over Memphis. 

NBA Picks 2/25 – Cleveland Cavaliers @ Orlando Magic

Orlando is coming off a 110-90 thrashing of the hapless Washington Wizards (9-47) at home on Sunday. The Magic went into halftime with a narrow 49-47 lead and then outscored the Wizards 61-43 after the intermission. Franz Wagner put up 23 points (11-22 FG, 1-7 3Pt), seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in 31 minutes. Second-year guard Anthony Black scored a career-high 23 points (7-12 FG, 4-5 3Pt, 5-5 FT) off the bench in the win. Orlando has won three of their last four games.

GAME STORYLINES: CLEVELAND

When future Hall of Famer LeBron James bolted from the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise as a free agent for a second time in 2018, it was widely assumed that the Cavaliers would suffer for a long period of time, as they did when James left in 2010. But quite the opposite happened as the Cavs were eventually able to trade for All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell in September 2022 which has resulted in the tremendous success that the team is now experiencing in 2025. 

Cleveland took a gamble trading for the then 25-year-old Donovan Mitchell due to the fact that he had just two years left on his contract and it was widely reported that Mitchell desired to play in a bigger market like New York, Los Angeles or Philadelphia. But Mitchell surprised the naysayers and agreed to a three-year, $150 million extension with Cleveland in July prior to this season. 

Donovan Mitchell is now in his third season with the Cavs and he’s already achieved tremendous individual and team success. Mitchell led the Cavs to the playoffs in his first two seasons with the team and carried them to the second round of the playoffs last year. Prior to eliminating Orlando in the first round a year ago, Cleveland’s last playoff series win without LeBron James occurred in the first round of the 1993 playoffs when a Brad Daugherty/Mark Price-led Cavs team bested the New Jersey Nets in a win-or-go home Game Five. 

Cleveland got off to a historic start this year when they won their first 15 games of the season. They became the fourth team in NBA history to begin the year 15-0 — the 1993-94 Houston Rockets were the only ones who went on to win the NBA title. Donovan Mitchell is leading the charge again this year averaging a team-high 24.2 points, 4.8 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 3.6 threes while shooting 45.6 percent from the floor and 39.6 percent from long distance. Mitchell was named an All-Star this season for the sixth time in his career.

The outstanding trio of guard Darius Garland (21.3 ppg, 6.7 asts, 1.2 stls, 2.9 threes, 49.3% from 2, 42.3% from 3 in 54 gms), forward Evan Mobley (18.7 ppg, 9.3 rebs, 3.1 asts, 1.6 blks, 56.9% from 2) and center Jarrett Allen (13.6 ppg, 10.4 rebs, 70.7% from 2) provide excellent production alongside Donovan Mitchell. Garland and Mobley were also selected as All-Stars. The improvement of the 23-year-old Mobley has also been crucial to this year’s success as he was often criticized for his lack of consistency and timid play during the first three years of his career. 

NBA Picks 2/25 – Cleveland Cavaliers @ Orlando Magic

Cleveland made a significant move prior to the trade deadline when they acquired versatile forward De’Andre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang and multiple draft picks on Feb. 6. The 6-foot-8 Hunter has been one of the NBA’s premier ‘3-and-D’ players for most of his six years in the NBA due to his excellent three-point shooting, elite defense and athleticism. He was averaging a career-high 19 ppg in 37 games with Atlanta prior to the trade. Hunter is averaging 13.4 ppg and 3.6 rebs in five games with Cleveland. 

GAME STORYLINES: ORLANDO

In August 2012, the Orlando Magic made the tough decision to part ways with their franchise center Dwight Howard. They traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers in a four-team deal. Orlando selected Howard with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft out of high school. In his 8 magnificent seasons with Orlando, Howard was a 6-time All-Star, a 3-time Defensive Player of the Year and led Orlando to the 2009 NBA Finals. 

The Orlando Magic really struggled in the ensuing decade post-Dwight Howard as they were unable to land another franchise player in the draft or as a free agent over the next 8 seasons. The Magic also produced just one winning season — 2018-19 when they finished 42-40 and lost 4-1 to the eventual NBA champion Toronto Raptors in the 1st round of the playoffs — over the 10 seasons (2013-2022) after Howard’s departure.  

Orlando’s fortunes changed drastically beginning with the 2021 NBA draft when they owned two lottery picks (No. 5 and No. 8 overall) and selected Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs with the fifth pick and Michigan swingman Franz Wagner with the eighth pick. Both players had excellent rookie seasons. Orlando then landed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft and selected Duke forward Paolo Banchero. Banchero was elite as a rookie averaging 20 ppg and 6.9 rpg en route to being named the unanimous 2023 Rookie of the Year. He received 98 out of 100 first-place votes.

The talented young trio of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs led Orlando to a 12-game improvement (34-48) in their first season playing together in 2022-23. The trio was even better in year two last season as Orlando increased their win total by 14 games and finished 48-34. They secured the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and pushed the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games. Orlando’s 48 wins was their most in a full season since 2010-11 (52-30) when Dwight Howard was leading the team. 

NBA Picks 2/25 – Cleveland Cavaliers @ Orlando Magic

After the tremendous improvement and success of the past two seasons, expectations for the 2024-25 season were huge for the Orlando Magic. Unfortunately, this season has been marred by injuries from pretty much the start. In just the fifth game of the year, All-Star forward Paolo Banchero suffered a torn right oblique muscle in a loss at Chicago on Oct. 30. The injury sidelined him for 34 games, he returned on Jan. 10. Orlando was able to somewhat stay afloat without Banchero as Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs carried the load until the injury bug struck again. Wagner also tore his right oblique muscle in a Dec. 6 loss at Philadelphia. Orlando was 16-9 when he went down. Wagner missed 20 games.

The losses of stars Paolo Banchero (missed 34 games) and Franz Wagner (missed 20 games) to the exact same injury have been devastating for Orlando as its been a ten-week long struggle for them to hit the .500 mark. To make things worse, starting point guard Jalen Suggs and serviceable reserve center Moritz Wagner — Franz’ older brother — also suffered bad injuries. Suggs has missed 12 straight games and 21 out of his last 22 games with back and quadriceps injuries. Wagner suffered a season-ending torn ACL in a win against Miami on Dec. 21. He was averaging career-highs of 12.9 ppg and 4.9 rpg prior to the injury.  

 If Orlando can get Paolo Banchero (22.9 ppg, 7.1 rebs, 4.9 asts in 25 gms), Franz Wagner (career-high 25.1 ppg, 5.7 rebs, 4.9 asts, 1.4 stls, 1.9 threes, 46.7% from 2 in 39 gms) and Jalen Suggs (career-high 16.2 ppg, 4 rebs, 3.7 asts, 1.5 stls, 2.2 threes in 35 gms) on the court together at some point soon they could make a push for the 4th seed in the East. Despite being just 29-30, Orlando still occupies the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference. They are currently three games behind Detroit for 6th and five games behind Indiana for 4th. 

THE PICK: CAVS (-5.5)

The Cavs are arguably the best team in the NBA and they’ve won 7 straight games. On the other hand, Orlando has been besieged by injuries since Halloween. I think Cleveland wins this one easily. Lay the Points and take the Cavs!!

NBA Picks 2/25 – Cleveland Cavaliers @ Orlando Magic