Game #10 Magic @ Blazers - 10 PM EST

[Reverse_Angle]

^^ it is not the same without your good luck pics.

Portland are legit this season.

Appreciate it man, just trying to do my part to help you know...

Portland is most certainly legit and it is always tough to play them at home as we have been trounced by them pretty badly the past two years when going up there. Stan said it best, the energy, intensity, and discipline must be there to get this win. I think this is a game where Jameer can certainly redeem himself and get back on track. Just have a gut feeling about him, I hope I'm right.

as long as Jameer plays like a shooting guard and relinquish playmaking duties to the ones who are better at that, Magic will be fine regardless of the competition.

[swstein]

Both Vegas and the computers think Orlando has a chance in this game. The line for Portland at home, is only -3.

I've seen this sort of thing in a few posts on RealGm.

Can you explain what it means ?

[Bay_Areas_Finest]

The Blazers are really good. I think they demolish us at home. =/

[chunnyboy]

the way they push the ball with felton and wallace is an absolute nightmare match up for us

they have very good athletes at every position... if we can be methodical on offense and wear them down early and control the tempo somewhat, we'll have a shot-

[J-Ville Smoke]

Both Vegas and the computers think Orlando has a chance in this game. The line for Portland at home, is only -3.

I've seen this sort of thing in a few posts on RealGm.

Can you explain what it means ?

That means Vegas expects Portland to beat us by 3 points and if you bet on Portland and they beat us by three points or higher, then you win your bet.

If Portland wins by 2 or 1 or they lose, then you lose your bet. If Portland wins by three, then its a push.

The inverse of this is that if Portland is giving 3 points, then the Magic are taking 3, meaning you can bet on the Magic and even if they lose, as long as it's within three points, you still win the bet.

[jjscap]

Those lines are mainly based on stats. They don't take certain things into account. Sorry but Magic is terribly struggling against tough teams that's why I disagree with Vegas and in fact took Portland -3@1.93. Lastly I picked Bulls over Magic and it was an easy win. I hope Orlando Magic can get better but as SVG told after the Bulls game "They are not at that level, not even close"

I still think Orlando can do better, even now. SVG should gamble and let these guys play a very fast game, just like the way they played last year after the trades. I don't know why they changed it; maybe SVG tried to install his slow offense and maybe D12 was unhappy with having second/third best ppg. Magic actually is able to score around 15 fastbreak points pushing the ball fast but with the current 'system' this number is close to zero.

[swstein]

Both Vegas and the computers think Orlando has a chance in this game. The line for Portland at home, is only -3.

I've seen this sort of thing in a few posts on RealGm.

Can you explain what it means ?

That means Vegas expects Portland to beat us by 3 points and if you bet on Portland and they beat us by three points or higher, then you win your bet.

If Portland wins by 2 or 1 or they lose, then you lose your bet. If Portland wins by three, then its a push.

The inverse of this is that if Portland is giving 3 points, then the Magic are taking 3, meaning you can bet on the Magic and even if they lose, as long as it's within three points, you still win the bet.

Thank you.

So is that what people mean when I hear them talk about point spread ?

[swstein]

I still think Orlando can do better, even now. SVG should gamble and let these guys play a very fast game, just like the way they played last year after the trades. I don't know why they changed it; maybe SVG tried to install his slow offense and maybe D12 was unhappy with having second/third best ppg. Magic actually is able to score around 15 fastbreak points pushing the ball fast but with the current 'system' this number is close to zero.

I loved how the team played after last years trades

[JazzItUp13]

Should be interesting to see how dwight follows up his amazing performance in sacramento.

[SubyWill]

I'm sorry, but we're going to get mowed over. Portland is playing incredible basketball, and Jamal Crawford is going to continue making ridiculous miracle shots on us. They play at a high pace and play hard all the time, our defense is going to struggle.

If we do win, it will be a HUGE win. Portland at home is always tough.

[rcklsscognition]

Anyone hoping to string together some backbreaking losses to force Otis to make a move? Or are we still on the I like this team thing?

[Neato]

Anyone hoping to string together some backbreaking losses to force Otis to make a move? Or are we still on the I like this team thing?

What kind of move are you looking for?

[rcklsscognition]

Anyone hoping to string together some backbreaking losses to force Otis to make a move? Or are we still on the I like this team thing?

What kind of move are you looking for?

I'm not looking for a move, but just wondering if anyone here was. It's on people's minds, cause reporters are asking Otis about it, if a bad performance on this trip will spur him to make a move.

[warren4prez]

We are playing a quality team which means we will loose.... We get scared and play to there level..

[drsd]

Those lines are mainly based on stats. They don't take certain things into account. Sorry but Magic is terribly struggling against tough teams that's why I disagree with Vegas and in fact took Portland -3@1.93.

Firstly, I commend you on the correct grammar use. The Magic is a singular object and the correct conjugation of "to be" is thus "is," Well done.

Secondly, Vegas sets betting lines by the perceived bet of fans. What this means is that Vegas expects that fans will expect Orlando to lose by 3. That is not stat based.

As for the AccuScore rating, hat is of course entirely stat based. There, it is position by position. Taking the entire roster of both teams, and playing the game 10,000 times, AccuScore had Orlando winning about 4,100 games (and thus a 41% winning rate). AccuScore has rated itself and finds that it's projections are nearly perfect (in the sense that winners and losers are predicted correctly at an excellent rate relative to final score). That of course is a circular argument as better teams have better stats. So, teams with better stats are generally better teams.


EDIT: The Vegas line just moved to -3.5, which means that fans think Orlando will lose more than Vegas expected fans to think that this team would lose. Also, the O/U dropped from 193 to 185, which is a HUGE drop. I guess fans expect a defensive struggle (or sloppy basketball).



..

[drsd]

We are playing a quality team which means we will loose.... We get scared and play to there level..

Historically, Orlando has played well when acting as the underdog. This year that has not come to fruition. That must change for GM SMith and Coach Man to keep their respective jobs.

[CPBalla2003 n da 863]

Great GT, nice and professional. lets get a victory here, please.

and, check out my new blog post on Nelson, and compliments and criticisms are welcome: http://nbaballanationtezscorner.blogspo ... ou-at.html

[SolidSnake008]

For some reason i've been wanting to see Harper play....Love to see him out there in a situation where we still need a stretch 4 if Ryan is in foul trouble or something....Like his size an athleticism....That's what makes it tough for me with our Rookies...With stan you don't know if our Rooks suck or not...they're just riding the pine....From what i've seen from Liggins...Dude has great size in that 2 spots and from what i remember from the open scrimmage he has a really quick first step and a good drive and kick game...Plus we know he's a ball hawk on the defensive side....

I don't know man i just wish Stan would play more bench guys on a situational basis this early just to get them used to playing with each other and some of the Starters under the bright lights...Remember when Stan refused to play Gortat early in the season when we had him and then came the playoffs when we needed Gortat and Gortat couldn't catch a Rhythm because he wasn't used to playing with Starters....Stan makes him ride the pine all year then playoff time expects him to play big minutes and be effective..too much pressure

IDK man i guess since they're professionals they should be ready at all times but i would think you have to get a feel for who you're playing with don't you?

[jadewbj]

Is Stan saying we are not a fast break team really news to anyone? I would It's hard to be a fast break team when everyone wants to just spot up and shoot 3's or wait until D12 camps in the paint.

He is not saying anything that even the players don't know.

I'm hoping for a good effort on defense. We have been crappy on D this year. We are rated 20th right now, it think we were 3rd or fourth last year.

[Reverse_Angle]

Those lines are mainly based on stats. They don't take certain things into account. Sorry but Magic is terribly struggling against tough teams that's why I disagree with Vegas and in fact took Portland -3@1.93.

Firstly, I commend you on the correct grammar use. The Magic is a singular object and the correct conjugation of "to be" is thus "is," Well done.

I don't tolerate well when people get all high and almighty about something, yet screw up. However, this is not about that. Lots of non-native English speakers read this forum, please at least be sure when you give grammar lectures.

Did you really think when people sometimes use Magic as plural word were wrong? I mean, if people go out of their way to use "are", I would at least suspect they might know something I don't. Obviously, you didn't.

collective nouns, look it up.