NBA Finals- Basketball Predictions Game 4

It’s easy to see that the Lakers are on a mission, but making basketball predictions in the playoffs are about situational advantages and not who’s hot.

The Orlando Magic are a lay up away from leading this series two games to one. While the Lakers look to be a team of destiny after a blowout loss ended their NBA Championship dreams last year, the Orlando Magic have had somewhat of a dream run of their own.

After a horrible shooting performance in Game 1, the Orlando Magic have turned things around in Games 2 and 3 including a NBA Finals record 62 percent shooting from the field Tuesday night. The Lakers have match-up problems with the shooting tandem of Turkoglu and Lewis. Both of these sharp shooters have big bodies and the ability to go to the rim. This puts pressure on who ever is guarding them to keep them away from the rim without giving them enough space to shoot open jumpers.

The youth of Orlando is also giving the Lakers problems. You can see that in the 3rd and 4th quarters, the Lakers (Kobe included) are struggling to keep up with the Magic’s pace of play. Now that Jameer Nelson is available off of the bench, this will keep guys like Rafer Alson fresh throughout the game.

Expect a more concerted effort on defense for the Magic as the spent more time admiring their own shots in Game 3 than they did playing defense. Orlando is the best shooting team in the league and are at home. They will make their shots and they will win Game 4. Take Orlando in Game 4 and give up the 2 points. Don’t forget that even though the Magic dodged a bullet in last game, they are still in a must win situation. Going down in the NBA Finals 3-1 with 2 games to play in Los Angeles would be devastating to Orlando.

If you are not as confident about laying the points in this game then take Orlando moneyline. You will have to pay a bigger price, but it’s worth it. The total is only 201. To me, this screams under. They just scored 112 points in the previous game and now they have lowered the O/U? This only makes sense if you are an oddsmaker. While I feel that Orlando will play well, I don’t see them shooting 62 percent again. Take the under.

My basketball predictions of the Magic and the Under are my opinion and are here to give you insight as to how an expert handicapper sees a match up. Good Luck!