With the NBA being such a long season with peaks and valley, handicapping a team riding a streak involves experience and perspective.
The Los Angeles Lakers have won eight straight games, positioning themselves as the Western Conference’s third seed and owning the tiebreaker over the three teams right below them in the standings.
A large reason for this surge is Luka Doncic scoring at least 30 points throughout this run, including 60 in Thursday’s win at the Miami Heat.
In just a few days, he’s moved from a 100/1 MVP long shot to 15/1 odds as the second favorite.
The Lakers visit the Orlando Magic on Saturday as 2.5-point favorites with a total of 230.5 points.
The Magic are riding their own streak, but they have lost three straight games.
They have now fallen out of a playoff seed and currently sit seventh in the Eastern Conference, which is a play-in spot.
Orlando should absolutely be ready for this matchup, but I also think the Lakers will avoid complacency.
They had every opportunity to play flat in Miami on the second of a back-to-back situation, but they responded energetically in the second half.
Plus, the Lakers will be seeking revenge for a home loss to Orlando last month.
Betting on the NBA?
The Lakers have improved their defensive effort lately but they’re still not a strong unit.
I think they will have a tough time defending Orlando, which has a sharper offense since Jalen Suggs returned from injury.
Plus, the Magic play a lot faster this season with Desmond Bane compared to last year.
I have a 106-87-2 record against the spread (ATS) in this Post sports section, and my next play is the Lakers and Magic going Over 230.5 points (-144, DraftKings).
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Doug Kezirian is a New York Post contributor who has over two decades of experience in the betting space, including spending 11 years at ESPN as a host, columnist and betting analyst. He’s also the rare personality who has documented success – 14th place in 2023 Circa Million and Las Vegas SuperContest ($37K), two top-10 finishes in 2022 William Hill College Football Challenge ($58K) and also grabbed headlines with a $297K win on the 2021 NFL Draft.