Andre Gomes Available Picks

May, 13 2008 7:00pm EST
TOTAL: Over 186 (-110)
LOSS for -3 unit(s)

Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons

Game 5 of this series which will probably be the last one of Orlando this season and which will qualify Detroit for the Eastern conference finals once again. Detroit won at Orlando by 90-89 last Saturday, in a game if you remember I took the under. This game had two very different phases that I will later explain which one will happen today, but first of all I would like to explain the scenario in which this game will be played. As I've said this will be a close out scenario for Detroit, who is 14-3 in these type of games since 2003. So there is a feeling of all or nothing for Orlando today. They have nothing to lose. That's why we saw some declarations of the players of Orlando like Nelson or Lewis guaranteeing a win at Detroit or that Orlando was the better team of the two. That was because they have nothing to lose. "We know history, but that doesn't matter to us," Howard said. "The Houston Rockets did it [in 1995 against Phoenix] and won a championship. It's not going to happen unless we believe, and we believe it." "That's what we have to hear from everybody," Howard said. "We've got to believe. It's not going to happen unless we believe it." And if Orlando wants to have a shot to win tonight (which I doubt it will happen), they will need to play at their own pace, raising the rhythm of the game, knocking down threes and try to use the most fast breaks they can. The team can get slaughtered anyway, but only with this style and tempo of the game Orlando may have a shot to win today. Like I said in the beginning the Game 4 had two phases: the first and the second halves. The first half was played at the rhythm of Orlando, with an higher pace and the Magic reached half time up by 11 points. In the second half, Orlando was up by 15 points in the 3rd quarter, when they wanted to control the rhythm better and they simply stopped playing. They only scored 34 points during the whole second half! Stan Van Gundy said exactly what happened in the second half of the Game 4: "It became their game. It became a grinded-out, halfcourt game. They played that game a lot better than we did." It's curious to see that the same happened in the Game 3, as after opening the game with a 30-16 run in the first quarter, the team reached the 4th quarter only winning by 73-69. So what Orlando needs to do today is to speed up the pace no matter what happens in the game. Unless the Magic can play their brand of basketball like they did in a Game 3 victory -- a fast-paced, free-flowing, 3-point shooting festival -- they could be starting their summer vacations. So today I expect a team of Orlando ready to risk everything in the attack. But don't think Detroit can't win this type of games, actually in the past in the close out game of the series between Detroit and Orlando, the game ended with 97-93 in favor of the Pistons. Also in the close out game against the Bucks in 2006, Detroit won by 122-93. So today I expect a fast paced game with the game ending with more than 190 points. Take the over in here.