NBA Picks 4/6 – Cleveland Cavs @ Orlando Magic
The Cleveland Cavaliers (50-30) are visiting the Orlando Magic (34-45) for a second straight game. Cleveland won 117-113 on Wednesday night led by Donovan Mitchell’s 43 points, his fourth straight 40-point game. The win secured the 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and home-court in the first round of the playoffs. Cleveland will be sitting their entire starting five for tonight’s game, so Orlando is a 10-point favorite and the total is 218.5. Cleveland has won all three games against Orlando this season. Orlando currently sits in 11th in the Eastern Conference and have been eliminated from playoff contention.
THE SKINNY ON BOTH TEAMS
The Cleveland Cavaliers made headlines before the season started when they made the unexpected move of trading for three-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell on September 3. They gave up three players and three unprotected first round picks (2025, 2027, 2029) in exchange for Mitchell. The trade has worked out for Cleveland in every aspect as they’ll make the playoffs and win 50+ games for the first time since LeBron James left in 2018, while Mitchell has put up another All-Star season with averages of 28.3 points (a career-high), 4.4 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 68 games. Mitchell’s backcourt partner Darius Garland has also played very well this season putting up 21.6 ppg, 7.8 asts and 1.2 stls per game.
In the 2022 draft, the Orlando Magic landed the number one overall pick for the fourth time in franchise history and they selected Duke power forward Paolo Banchero. Orlando chose wisely as Banchero has been the NBA’s best rookie by a significant margin and should be the unanimous choice for the 2023 Rookie of the Year. Banchero is putting up 20.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Orlando’s 2021 lottery pick Franz Wagner (the 8th pick out of Michigan) has elevated his game in year two putting up 18.8 pts and 4.1 rebs, he’s only missed one game this season. Orlando seemed to be destined to another pitiful season after a 5-20 start, but they’ve gone 29-25 since then and have won 5 of 7. They also appear to be one of the few non-playoff teams who aren’t tanking games, which is a rarity in the NBA nowadays.
THE PICK
The Cavs will be playing their JV team tonight and Orlando actually wants to win games even though they’re heading to the lottery…Lay the 10 points with Orlando!!
Join Wannamakeabet.com today. Join our monthly “All Sports” Betting Championship today where you bet points instead of real money on all the major pro sports (NFL, College Football, NBA, NHL, MLB, and pro soccer). We’ll put you into a league and give you a bankroll of 50,000 points so you can bet on every game on the board. And you get 50,000 more points every week. Whomever has the most points at the end of the league is the winner and wins real cash based on how many players join! Join today, it’s free!
Stay tuned to our blog for all the latest predictions, analysis, and special promotions for the season.