Can Dwight Howard and the Magic vanquish the Hawks like they did last season? We preview the 4-5 matchup here.
NBA Playoff Odds, Magic Vs. Hawks: Orlando Steady Favorites In First Round Only
But Vegas doesn’t believe in Orlando much beyond this first round battle against Atlanta. Bodog lists just 9/1 odds for the Magic to win the Eastern Conference and just 18/1 to win the NBA Championship, despite being an NBA Finals team in 2009.
Despite the Magic’s big sweep last season -- in which Orlando won each game by at least 20 points -- you can get 4/1 odds on a 4-0 Orlando win in this series. The odds for a Hawks sweep are 50/1.
Read Article >NBA Playoff Schedule, Magic Vs. Hawks: Dwight Howard Revives Title Push On Saturday
Here’s the full series schedule:
Game 1: Sat., April 16 in Orlando, 7 p.m., ESPN
Game 2: Tue., April 19 in Orlando, 7:30 p.m., NBA TV
Game 3: Fri., April 22 in Atlanta, TBD, ESPN2
Game 4: Sun., April 24 in Atlanta, 7 p.m., TNT
Game 5: Tue., April 26 in Orlando, TBD
Game 6: Thu., April 28 in Atlanta, TBD
Game 7: Sat., April 30 in Orlando, TBD, TNT
Read Article >NBA Playoffs Schedule: Magic Vs. Hawks Game 1 Tips Saturday At 7 P.M. On ESPN
The Magic are currently 51-30 heading into the final game of the regular season, while the Hawks are 44-37. The two teams met in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.
Read Article >Magic Vs. Hawks: Inability To Force Turnovers Could Doom Atlanta
And that excellent shooting only gets Orlando up to No. 14 because the Magic register a ton of turnovers. The team is No. 26 in the NBA in turnover rate, coughing up the ball on 14.3 percent of their possessions. Most of that problem is directly attributable to Howard, who averages 3.6 turnovers per game and has a personal turnover rate of 16 percent.
So Atlanta should be able to take advantage of this and get some earned offense out of Orlando’s turnovers, right?
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