Oklahoma City Thunder vs Orlando Magic Prediction, 1/2/2021 NBA Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Oklahoma City Thunder vs Orlando Magic

Date: Saturday, January 2, 2021

Location: Amway Center in Orlando, FL

TV: Fox Sports Florida

Odds/Point Spread: Oklahoma City (+3.5)

The Orlando Magic (4-1) host the Oklahoma City Thunder (1-3) at Amway Center on Saturday. Oklahoma City opens this game as 3.5-point dogs. The O/U has been set at 220.

The Oklahoma City Thunder faced the New Orleans Pelicans and took a loss by a score of 113-80 in their last contest. Oklahoma City walked away from the game with a 37.5% FG percentage (30 out of 80) and converted 15 of their 48 shots from 3-point land. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Thunder converted 5 of their 15 attempts for a rate of 33.3%. In terms of hauling in boards, they collected a total of 40 with 7 of them being on the offensive end. They also doled out 24 dimes in this matchup while earning 6 steals and 3 blocks. When it comes to defending, Oklahoma City let their opponent shoot 48.4% from the field on 44 out of 91 shooting. New Orleans earned 23 dimes and had 9 steals in the matchup. Furthurmore, the Pelicans pulled down 58 rebounds (14 offensive, 44 defensive) and had 4 rejections. New Orleans finished the game shooting 63.2% from the charity stripe by knocking down 12 of 19 shots. They knocked down 13 of 36 shots from beyond the arc.

Al Horford is one player who came through in the game. He accounted for 17 points on 7 out of 9 shooting. He played for 24:13 minutes and also collected 6 boards. Horford walked away from this one shooting 77.8% from the field and dished out 3 dimes. An additional guy that was a major factor in this game for the Thunder was Mike Muscala. He snagged 2 boards and earned 2 assists. He finished the game at 57.1% from the field in this game by going 4-of-7 (10 points). When the final whistle blew, Muscala saw the court for 15:37 min.

Oklahoma City enters this game with a record of 1-3 so far this season. The Thunder are hitting 32.7% on shots beyond the perimeter (51 of 156) and 62.3% from the free throw line. They have an average of 101.3 pts per game (29th in the NBA) while connecting on 44.9% from the floor. They turn the ball over 18.3 times per game and as a team are committing 18.8 personal fouls per game. As a team, Oklahoma City is snagging 44.5 boards per contest and has racked up 90 assists for the year, which has them ranked 26th in basketball in terms of passing the rock. When they are on defense, the Thunder are able to force 13.5 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 20.0 fouls. They are relinquishing 36.5% on shots from beyond the perimeter while they are 14th in the NBA in opponents PPG (112.0). The Thunder defensively are giving up a FG percentage of 47.3% (54 of 80) and they surrender 48.5 rebounds per game as a team. They currently rank 9th in basketball in allowing assists to their opponents with 100 relinquished this year.

In their last game, the Orlando Magic took a defeat with a final score of 116-92 against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Magic were able to collect 38 defensive boards and 10 offensive boards totaling 48 for the contest. They also blocked 5 attempts while getting 2 steals in this game. The 76ers earned 23 fouls for this contest which took the Magic to the free throw line for a total of 21 tries. They were able to bury 19 of the free throw tries for a rate of 90.5%. When talking about shooting from downtown, Orlando made 7 out of their 28 tries (25.0%). Overall, the Magic walked away from this one shooting 33 for 95 from the floor which gave them a rate of 34.7%. The Magic allowed the 76ers to knock down 44 of 91 tries from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 48.4% for the contest. They finished the game shooting 45.5% from three-point range via 15 out of 33 and ended up shooting 13 out of 15 from the free throw line (86.7%). In the matter of rebounding, Orlando permitted Philadelphia to pull down 54 in total (7 on the offensive side).

Nikola Vučević ended up being a factor for the Magic in this game. He made 8 of 15 in the game giving him a field goal percentage of 53.3%, which had him finishing with 19 points. Vučević totaled 10 boards in his 23:47 mins of time on the hardwood and had 3 dimes in this game. Another guy that ended up playing a role for Orlando was Cole Anthony. He scored 16 points in his 30:20 minutes on the court by way of 5 out of 18 from the floor in the game. Anthony wrapped this one up going 27.8% from the floor as well as collecting 2 assists and 7 boards.

Orlando has a win-loss record of 4-1 for the year. Orlando has accounted for 573 pts for the year (114.6 per contest) and they snag 46.8 boards per game. The Magic are responsible for committing 18.4 personal fouls per contest and they shoot 82.8% from the free throw line. On the offensive side of the ball, the Magic are connecting on 45.5% from the field, which is ranked 18th in the NBA. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 22.0 times per contest (25th in the NBA) and they turn the ball over 12.8 times per contest. The Magic on defense are ranked 15th in the NBA in points per game surrendered with 112.6. The Orlando defense gives up 34.6% on 3-point attempts (54 of 156) and opponents are knocking down 69.1% of their shots from the free throw line. They have allowed 24.6 assists and 46.8 total rebounds per game, which has them ranked 13th and 19th in basketball. They are forcing 16.8 turnovers per game and have let teams shoot 49.0% from the floor (29th in the NBA).

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Oklahoma City (+3.5)

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