Magic/Rockets preview
The Magic (17-9, 12-4 road), losers of 5 of their last 6 games, take on another struggling team at HOU (12-12, 6-4 home), who has lost 5 of their last 8 games. HOU is coming off a 96-83 loss to DAL SAT as Yao led the Rockets with 28 pts; former Magic guard Tracy McGrady, battling a sore knee, scored just 12 pts.
The probable starting lineup for HOU:
G... Rafer Alston (8.6 ppg)
G... Tracy McGrady (24.2 ppg, 5.4 ast)
F... Chuck Hayes (3.2 ppg, 6.1 rebs)
F... Shane Battier (8.0 ppg)
C... Yao Ming (21.8 ppg, 10.3 rebs)
Top reserves: Bonzi Wells (8.8 rebs); Mike James (8.4 ppg) Luis Scola (6.3 ppg) Steve Francis (5.5 ppg) Luther Head (4.5 ppg)
HOU is averaging 93.8 ppg while allowing 93.3 ppg; ORL is averaging 103.9 ppg while allowing 99.4 ppg.
In their last 4 games, HOU is averaging under 90 ppg offensively, while the Magic, in their last 7 games, have allowed 107.3 ppg. HOU has beaten the Magic 3 straight games and 9 of the last 10 games, and is a 3 1/2 pt favorite to beat the Magic tonight (www.pinnaclesports.com).
The probable starting lineup for HOU:
G... Rafer Alston (8.6 ppg)
G... Tracy McGrady (24.2 ppg, 5.4 ast)
F... Chuck Hayes (3.2 ppg, 6.1 rebs)
F... Shane Battier (8.0 ppg)
C... Yao Ming (21.8 ppg, 10.3 rebs)
Top reserves: Bonzi Wells (8.8 rebs); Mike James (8.4 ppg) Luis Scola (6.3 ppg) Steve Francis (5.5 ppg) Luther Head (4.5 ppg)
HOU is averaging 93.8 ppg while allowing 93.3 ppg; ORL is averaging 103.9 ppg while allowing 99.4 ppg.
In their last 4 games, HOU is averaging under 90 ppg offensively, while the Magic, in their last 7 games, have allowed 107.3 ppg. HOU has beaten the Magic 3 straight games and 9 of the last 10 games, and is a 3 1/2 pt favorite to beat the Magic tonight (www.pinnaclesports.com).
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 7:01 PM
2 Comments:
At 7:28 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
The Rockets are really struggling offensively, while the Magic are struggling defensively; what's going to give tonight?
Hopefully, the Magic will snap out of it. This is a winnable game for the Magic, despite losing 9 of their last 10 against the Rockets.
At 10:20 PM,
Anonymous said…
Big game tonight especifically for the big men tonight! Dwight has to step up tonight against yao and establish himself as not just a dominant big man but thee best big man in the league. Rashard Lewis is going to be celebrating his homecoming to houston and also his 20 million dollars which he is getting this year!!!! yes i am beating up lewis day to day with the whole over paying him but guess what oh well!!! he is a great player and an even better person but we overpaid him like there is no tommorow and he is not performing like a 20 million dollar man. Word on the rumor mill is that he ordered between 65 and 70 tickets for family and friends so lets see what he does at home in front of family and friends. Now, lets talk about some other matchups that i am really looking forward to,bogans vs. mcgrady. Obviously McGrady is arguably one of the best scorers in the league and bogans is our best defender and it seems like he guards players like Mcgrady which like to settle on their jumper alot better than the players who lower their shoulders and attack the basket, so containing mcgrady should not be an assignment that would be difficult to complete. We definetly need the road win against a halfway descent western conference team. Big game tonight!
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