Wagering beyond the stars in Cavs and Magic

Is it just yours truly or does it seem like there has interesting NBA games to watch this year? Maybe it was because we all had become so used to San Antonio, Dallas. Miami and Detroit for years, they were the one’s always on. Today at least the variety appears better, with more teams actually competing with a legitimate chance to represent their conference as champions come playoff time. Two such teams meet tonight approximately 90 miles from the site of the Super Bowl and should be a heck of battle.

Two of the biggest stars in the NBA stratosphere are LeBron James and Dwight Howard and they will collide tonight, however, each has proven like many before them, they can’t do it alone and now have other talented players rotating in their respective solar systems.

Cleveland (35-8, 29-14 ATS) has managed to survive two key injuries thanks to the depth they have on the roster. Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been recovering from a sprained left ankle and chipped bone and internet rumors have him returning tonight, though team reports are still suggesting he has soreness and couple more days would help. Fortunately, his backup Anderson Varejao has put up virtually the same numbers and the Cavs haven’t been hurt to bad.

Delonte West has been out with a fractured wrist, which seems to have motivated Mo Williams even more, who scored a career high 43 points two nights ago and just missed a triple double, adding 11 assists and eight rebounds in 117-110 win over Sacramento. In fact in that game an extremely rare occurrence happened. Williams and James each had a minimum of at least 23 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists. That is the first time that teammates has such numbers since Dec. 23, 1971, when Butch Beard (30 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists) and John Johnson (24 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists) did it for the Cavs at Atlanta. You can put Cleveland down for 9-1 ATS record after scoring 110 points or more this season.

Orlando (34-10, 30-14 ATS) could hardly be called one dimensional, even with Howard having another monster season. The Magic are the league’s top three-point shooting team, connecting on 40.2 percent from beyond the arc. Four regulars shoot at least 41.0 percent. Sharp shooter Rashard Lewis has the most treys in the NBA and Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu can also drain long bombs. Orlando’s ability to make deep shots opens up the lane area for Howard to work and if teams want to sag or double-team him in the post, he can just kick out pass to open shooter.

Orlando lit up Indiana 135-111 and they are 7-0 ATS after scoring 60 points or more in the first half last game this season. This prompted Indiana’s Danny Granger to call Orlando “the best team in the East.”

The oddsmakers at Bookmaker.com also like Orlando, making them a four-point home favorite with a total of 197. The Magic are 17-4 and 13-8 ATS at the Amway Arena and are 10-1 ATS when playing only their second game in five days. Cleveland has won four in a row and has been alternating spread wins and losses for last eight games and is coming off non-cover. The Cavs are 11-2 ATS after a game where they failed to cover the spread this season.

Over the last three seasons, Orlando is 5-2 and 6-1 ATS in their meetings, with five of seven playing Under the total. The latter instances could happen again with the Cavaliers 9-1 UNDER after scoring 60 points or more in the first half last game and the Magic 12-3 UNDER after allowing 100 points or more two straight games.

TNT is the televised provider starting at 8 Eastern.