Magic vs. Hornets prediction and odds for Friday, March 3 (Value on total)

The 2022-23 season has been a rough one for the Charlotte Hornets, who lost star guard LaMelo Ball for the rest of the season due to a fractured ankle earlier this week.

Ball has been in and out of the lineup all season, similar to Gordon Hayward and Kelly Oubre Jr., which has left the Hornets in the No. 14 spot in the Eastern Conference.

They have a chance to pick up a win at home on Friday against the Orlando Magic (13th in the East), but Orlando has been the far better team after starting the season 5-20.

The Magic are 21-17 since then, and they are favored on the road against Charlotte, who saw a five-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns.

With Ball out, the Hornets are going to revert back to being one of the worst offenses in the NBA. How does that change how we’d bet on this game?

Magic vs. Hornets odds, spread and total

Magic vs. Hornets prediction and pick

I don’t mind taking Orlando to win this game, but the team has gone just 11-21 straight up on the road, so laying 4.5 points isn’t exactly as enticing as looking at the total.

I absolutely love the UNDER in this game, especially now that Ball is out.

On the season, Charlotte ranks dead last in the NBA in offensive rating, and that was with Ball playing in 36 games. Dennis Smith Jr. and some of the other young guns for Charlotte aren’t going to be nearly as effective.

For Orlando, like many young teams, playing on the road has been a struggle. The team dips from an offensive rating of 111.1 on the season to 108.4 on the road, good for 29th in the league.

In fact, the UNDER is 17-13-2 when the Magic are on the road in the 2022-23 campaign.

Over the Hornets last nine games, they’ve hit the UNDER on this number five times. The last time these teams faced off in Charlotte, they combined for 232 points, but Ball had 33 in that game to lead all scorers.

LaMelo means too much to this Charlotte offense for me to take anything but the UNDER on Friday night.

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.