Toronto Raptors face an uphill task against Orlando Magic
The Toronto Raptors begin a four-game Eastern Conference road trip with their first visit to the new Amway Center to play the Orlando Magic on Friday night. Toronto has been struggling big time this season and they will be looking to clinch their first away
win against the high profile Orlando Magics.
The odds are heavily pitched against the Raptors though as they are facing one of the Giants of the Eastern Conference.
Orlando has been one of the most prolific home teams in the past couple of years. The 2008 NBA finalists come in to the match looking to avoid a second straight home loss,
a feat which they have avoided for the last three seasons. The Magics will have to lift their confidence though after they were sent crashing 104-94 in the last match by Utah Jazz. The Magics blew an 18 point advantage in the second half and gave up a season-worst
39 points in the fourth quarter.
Match-up
Orlando is 30-24 in the all-time match-up between the two teams (16-10 at home, 14-14 on the road) during regular season action. Last season the Magics won the series 3-1
and have triumphed in seven of the last eleven regular season meetings including four of the last six at Toronto.
Toronto
Toronto Raptors face Orlando hoping to put a halt to the losing trend that has plagued them this season. The Raptors have dropped six consecutive games to begin the month
of November and are 0-4 on the road so far.
The Raptors have been a part of many close games to open the 2010-11 season, as Toronto has trailed by four points or less with under 30 seconds to play in four of the team’s
first seven defeats. In all four games, Toronto lost by five points or less.
Toronto’s starters have failed to inspire this season and it is their bench that has really grasped the court. Toronto’s bench has outscored opponents in five consecutive
games by an average of 20.2 points. Sonny Weems has led the second-unit surge with 12.1 points during the first eight games, while Leandro Barbosa is averaging 10.4 points. Amir Johnson is averaging 10.2 points and 7.6 rebounds for the second-wave during the
past five games.
The Raptors ordeal has been aggravated by the injury issues. Reggie Evans, Jarrett Jack, Linas Kleiza, Leandro Barbosa and Sony Weems are all on a day to day basis.
Orlando
The Magics have had a fantastic season thus far. Orlando is currently 4-1 at home this season, its first in the new Amway Center, and has an average margin of victory of
22.5 points per game (ppg).
Orlando Magics themselves scoring 99.0 ppg have been extremely frugal in that aspect to their opposition. The Magics have allowed 90.9 ppg holding their opponents to under
100 points six times in the season restricting them to 0.426 shooting from the floor.
Prominent Players
Andreas Bargani leads the Raptors scoring 19.5 points per game this season. The Raptors will be hoping that he hits the ground running as they have beaten the Magics each
time he has scored sixteen points or more.
Dwight Howard has been the key Orlando player for quite some time now and he will pose a major threat to the Raptors, come Friday night. The phenomenal center has been scoring
at an average of 21.9 points and 11 rebounds per game and will be the one to look out for the Raptors.
Verdict
Toronto Raptors face an uphill task as they arrive in Orlando. With their star player Chris Bosh joining Miami this season, there are a lot of question marks on the offensive
firepower of the Raptors and they will have to play out of their skin to down the Orlando Magics.
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