Orlando Magic at Sacramento Kings (+2.5, 204)
The Orlando Magic acquired Vince Carter in the offseason after Hedo Turkoglu bolted for Toronto. While Vince is averaging 17.2 points per game for the Magic, it has been the consistently strong play of Duke alum J.J. Redick that coach Stan Van Gundy has come to trust.
On Saturday night, Redick showed what he can do as a starter. With Carter sitting out the game due to a sprained shoulder, Redick moved into the first unit and put up 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor.
Redick has made his name as a shooter, knocking down 43 percent of his shots from beyond the arc this season, but it has been his effort on the defensive end that has made him a fan favorite at Amway Arena.
In Saturday night’s victory over the Atlanta Hawks, Redick helped limit Joe Johnson to seven points on 2-of-9 shooting from the floor. He also had to guard potential sixth man of the year Jamal Crawford for long stretches, limiting him to 10 points.
Redick is certainly not the NBA’s quickest or most athletic player but he has learned to anticipate plays.
''Now, he's not a half a count behind,'' Van Gundy said. ''He's a tough guy. He's gonna compete hard.''
The Magic have won five of 10 games with Carter, Howard, Lewis and Nelson starting together this season while they’re 20-7 when one of the big four is out. Van Gundy is considering making Carter the team’s sixth man and Redick would likely replace him in the starting five. Look for Redick to see increased minutes and look for the Magic to pull plenty more rabbits out of their hats.
Pick: Magic
Los Angeles Lakers at San Antonio Spurs (-2.5, 195)
How much do the Lakers miss Pau Gasol? Everything is that much more difficult for the Lakers without their All-Star forward. It’s apparent in Kobe Bryant’s increased shot totals and decreased accuracy.
Bryant, who plays naturally through Gasol, reverts to the Kobe of old when there's no Pau. Ball rotation is stagnant and teammates tend to have bad nights.
When the Lakers lost to the Clippers and Trail Blazers prior to their win over the Bucks Sunday night, Kobe went 10-30 and 14-37 from the floor. In their victory over Milwaukee, Kobe threw up 21 shots while missing 17, which is still plenty in only 28 minutes of action.
With that said, Kobe is not only playing with a fractured finger, but his middle knuckle on that finger is now also very sore.
“The second knuckle is probably even more painful than the broken tip, so there is a whole thing going on with that index finger,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson.
On top of Pau’s strained left hamstring and Kobe’s fractured finger, Ron Artest hasn’t been the same since falling down a set of stairs and suffering a concussion. Artest felt some dizziness when he was fouled by Milwaukee’s Michael Redd in Sunday night’s victory. Ron Ron asked twice to be removed from the game, prompting another possible examination in the near future.
With so many injuries and questionable team chemistry, San Antonio will be licking its chops to get a shot at these banged-up Lakers.
Pick: Spurs