Free Pick: Orlando Magic vs. Detroit Pistons

Pistons and Magic Look to Make Playoff Push

Wednesday, January 16 at 7:00 PM ET

Little Caesars Arena

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Florida (Orlando), FS Detroit, NBA League Pass LINE:Pistons -4; O/U: 208

The Orlando Magic visit the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. Both teams looking to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race. 

Magic and Pistons making
playoff push

The Magic (19-24) and Pistons (18-24) are in 9th and 10th place in the standings respectively. The winner of this game will get closer to the eighth place Hornets, so this is an important contest for both.

The Pistons are 5-17 in their last 22 games. They were just 1-3 in their recent West Coast trip, with the lone win coming against the Clippers. Blake Griffin's former team. Detroit is coming off a 100-96 loss at Utah last Monday, when the Jazz outscored them 47-35 in the second half. 

Aaron Gordon making a difference

The Magic earned back-to-back home wins against two of the best teams in the league. First they beat the Celtics 105-103 on Saturday to snap a four-game losing streak, and then they took down the Rockets 116-109 on Sunday. They outscored Houston 64-50 in the second half.

Aaron Gordon had a solid effort against the Rockets with 22 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. If the Magic want to beat the Pistons they need to get Gordon involved on offense on a more regular basis. The talented forward is averaging 19.0 points and 8.8 rebounds in his last five games. He had big games against the Celtics and Rockets with 28 points and 12 rebounds and 22 points and eight rebounds, respectively.

Gordon has enough talent to become one of the Magic's biggest offensive weapons but he has ups and downs like most players. Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier usually carry the team's offense, but if Aaron Gordon plays well on that side of the court and contributes as a playmaker then the Magic can be competitive against anyone. This was seen in their last two contests.

NBA Trends:

The Orlando Magic are:

4-1 ATS in their last five games
against Eastern Conference opponents

11-5 ATS in their last 16 games
after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game

7-1 ATS in the last eight
meetings

The Detroit Pistons are:

3-7 ATS in their last 10 games
overall

3-9 ATS in their last 12 when
their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game

5-16 ATS in their last 21 games
against Southeast Division opponents

1-5-1 ATS in their last seven
games against Eastern Conference opponents

1-5 ATS in their last six home
games against a team with a losing road record

The Pistons were out-rebounded 70-47 against the Jazz last Monday. Andre Drummond had a team-best 13 rebounds, the rest of his teammates grabbed five rebounds or less each. The Magic rank 24th in the NBA with 43.3 rebounds per game. They did step up and average 53.5 rebounds in the games against the Celtics and Rockets. The rebounding battle just might be the difference in this game.

NBA Pick: Magic +4 at Jazz Sports

Check odds here: Jazz Sports