Get ready for a wild Friday night full of intense hoops action as the NBA will be serving up 10 mouth-watering games. One of those games feature the unbeaten Toronto Raptors (5-0) paying the Orlando Magic (1-4) a visit at Amway Center. Can the Raptors extend their winning streak to six in a row? Or will the Magic hand them their first loss of the season?
Read on below for an in-depth breakdown of this matchup and while you’re at it, check out our other previews as well: Hawks at Pelicans and Pistons at Suns.
The Toronto Raptors are off their best start in franchise history. They moved to 5-0 on the season after pulling off a huge upset on Wednesday night, wherein they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 103-98, in front of their home crowd. The Raptors couldn’t have done this without the efforts of DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas.
[sc:NBA240banner ]DeRozan kept pouring on the points in this game with a game-high of 28 points while adding five rebounds and three assists under his name. That was the fourth time that he’s reached the 20-point line this season. Valanciunas, meanwhile, made his presence felt in the paint by contributing his second double-double performance of the year with 17 points and 11 boards.
Of course, Kyle Lowry, the team’s second-leading scorer (19.2 PPG), cannot be left out. He still managed to provide a quality output of 17 points with despite an ugly shooting night (5-of-14).
But the Raptors won’t let their current five-game winning streak get them overconfident following two first-round playoff exits. They’ll be keeping that in mind when they begin their four-game road trip at Amway Center for a date with the Orlando Magic.
For them to win this one, they ought to capitalize on the absence of center Nikola Vucevic (bruised knee). Expect Lowry and DeRozan to be extra-aggressive in attacking the paint and force the Orlando defense to focus on clogging up the middle. In effect, it will also allow them to kick out the ball and knock down the wide open three-pointers. The Raptors are currently third-best in the league from beyond the arc, shooting at a solid 39.0 percent.
As for the defense, DeMarre Caroll might have his work cut out for him thanks to Evan Fournier. Fournier scored a career-high of 30 points at New Orleans and followed it up with a 29-point effort last night in their overtime loss to Houston.
Toronto is 6-4 SU and 5-5 ATS in its previous 10 road games.
The Orlando Magic are only 1-4 right now but all those losses were close ones. They’ve put themselves in good positions to win their games and the only problem is that the team has not yet grown quite enough to help them execute down the stretch. Now, the Magic will have another chance to steer themselves back to the winning track when the Toronto Raptors come to town later.
That’ll be easier said than done, though, because their center Nikola Vucevic due to a bruised knee. Vucevic has been their strongest inside threat, averaging 15.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game so far this season. A lot of pressure is certainly going to be on Dewayne Dedmon, who’s expected to replace him as the starting center.
Other than Dedmon, the pressure is also going to be on the pair of Evan Fournier and Tobias Harris to produce on offense and help grab some crucial rebounds.
Fournier is coming off two-straight stellar games, during which he’s notched a 59 points and 11 rebounds all in all. He also leads everyone in the team in scoring with 20.6 PPG. Harris, on the other hand, has been quite productive as well, averaging 16.2 points and 8.2 rebounds after five games. Included in that stretch, is a 30-point outburst opposite Oklahoma City on October 30.
But if there’s one thing that the Magic need to really take advantage of in this match, it would be the Raptors’ proneness to turnovers (17.6 per game).
Orlando is 0-10 SU and 3-7 ATS in its last 10 meetings with Toronto.
Writer’s Prediction
Orlando collapses in the final period and allow the Raptors to capture the 101-95 victory.
