Miami Heat Road Favorites at Orlando Magic

Zach Rance previews the NBA game of the day, the Miami Heat at the Orlando Magic!

The Miami Heat will head north on Wednesday night to take on their rivals, the Orlando Magic, in an important Southeast Division match-up. This battle in Florida will be a great game for anyone looking to do some NBA basketball betting during the week.

Despite a 40-point performance by LeBron James, the Heat lost to the Milwaukee Bucks last Wednesday for the second time in just ten days. However, the Heat were able to rebound from that surprising loss with an impressive 20-point win against the Philadelphia 76ers, one of the most-improved teams in the NBA this year.

There is no doubt that the Heat will be helped by the return of Dwayne Wade, who missed six games with an injured ankle in January. Although the Heat did manage to win five of those games, they are clearly a more vibrant and explosive offense when James and Wade are on the floor at the same time.

With the Big Three back together again, the Heat will have enough weapons at their disposal to frustrate even the best of teams. However, the Heat have still been searching for definitive solutions at both point guard and center. James has sometimes been known to take over the point when Mario Chalmers or Norris Cole are not getting the job done, but the Heat have found the center position to be a bit more troublesome to fill.

This is a very serious problem for the Heat given that they will be facing the best center in basketball in Dwight Howard. The Heat have been using a platoon strategy at center with both Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem taking turns in the middle, but they are both undersized at the position and have little ability to create their own shots.

To be fair, they are both talented defenders, but they will have their hands full with Dwight Howard, who currently is scoring more than 20 points per game. In addition, Howard, who is leading the league in rebounds with more than 15 per game, may have his way on the boards without a true center to challenge him in the paint.

The Magic have been able to recover from their recent losing streak with wins against the Wizards and the Cavaliers, but the Heat will be a far stiffer test. There does not seem to be anyone on the Magic’s starting five that can guard James or Wade, and they will have considerable difficulty in attempting to stop Chris Bosh’s mid-range game.

Howard should give the Heat a lot of trouble in the middle, but the defense of the Magic does not appear to be good enough to stop the offensive onslaught that the Heat throw at teams every night. For those people looking to do some sports betting Wednesday night, consider taking the Heat and giving the points to the Magic if the spread is not too lopsided.