Month: March 2024

Portland Trail Blazers at Orlando Magic odds, picks and predictions

Analyzing Monday’s Portland Trail Blazers at Orlando Magic odds and lines, with NBA expert picks, predictions and best bets.

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The Portland Trail Blazers (19-55) and Orlando Magic (43-31) meet Monday at Kia Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. Let’s analyze FanDuel Sportsbook’s lines around the Trail Blazers vs. Magic odds and make our expert NBA picks and predictions.

Season series: Magic lead 1-0

The Trail Blazers have started 0-3 on their current 7-game road trip. They are coming off of a 60-point loss Friday night to the Miami Heat. Portland failed to cover the spread as a 14-point underdog in the 142-82 loss as the Over (207.5) cashed. Four Heat players scored 20 points or more, and the team had 17 steals in the victory. The Trail Blazers hit just 5 of 30 (16.7%) from long range. Portland has lost 9 straight games.

Orlando snapped a 3-game losing streak with a 118-88 win against the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday night. It covered the spread as a 13-point favorite, and the Under (209) cashed. Four Magic starters scored in double figures, led by C Wendell Carter Jr., who had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. He also added 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. The Magic are currently in 5th place in the Eastern Conference.

The Magic have won 3 of the last 4 games against the Trail Blazers. In their most recent meeting (Oct. 27), Orlando won 102-97 as a 5-point favorite with the Under (220.5) cashing in Portland.

Trail Blazers at Magic odds

Provided by FanDuel Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Sunday at 11:45 p.m. ET.

  • Moneyline (ML): Trail Blazers +900 (bet $100 to win $900) | Magic -1600 (bet $1,600 to win $100)
  • Against the spread (ATS): Trail Blazers +16.5 (-112) | Magic -16.5 (-108)
  • Over/Under (O/U): 209 (O: -110 | U: -110)

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Trail Blazers at Magic key injuries

Trail Blazers

  • G Malcolm Brogdon (elbow) out
  • F Jerami Grant (hamstring) doubtful
  • G Shaedon Sharpe (abdominal) out
  • G Anfernee Simons (knee) out
  • F Matisse Thybulle (ankle) out

Magic

  • None

For most recent updates: Official NBA injury report.

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Trail Blazers at Magic picks and predictions

Prediction

Magic 110, Trail Blazers 95

Moneyline

PASS.

You should avoid betting the Magic (-1600), as the juice is too much. Bet the spread and/or total instead.

Against the spread

PASS.

I hate to avoid a bet, but I do not see an edge in this game. Both teams are 1-3 in their last 4 ATS. Orlando has covered in 3 of the last 4 head-to-head meetings, but none of those had a number this big. The Magic will win this game without much doubt in my mind, but will they cover this number? I don’t know, which is why I’m going to stay away.

Over/Under

BET UNDER 209 (-110).

The Under has cashed in 4 of their last 5 head-to-head meetings.

Portland has scored over 110 in just 2 of their last 11 games.

The Under has hit in 8 of Orlando’s last 10 games. The Magic like to play at a slower pace and are ranked 24th in the league in possessions per game, while Portland is 17th.

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Fans slammed NASCAR for call on Denny Hamlin potentially jumping the final restart

Martin Truex Jr. says Denny Hamlin jumped the final restart en route to a win, and he may be right.

A NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond on Sunday night appeared to be heading toward an inevitable Martin Truex Jr. win in the closing stages, but a late-race caution caused chaos – and left Truex Jr. fuming and driving into the back of his own teammate.

With Truex Jr. coming around to take the white flag, Bubba Wallace spun Kyle Larson to bring out a caution. This forced the entire field to pit for tires, and Denny Hamlin’s crew delivered a scorching top, vaulting the No. 11 car from third to first.

Hamlin held off Truex Jr. on the restart and went on to win his second race of 2024 – but after crossing the checkered flag, Truex Jr. sped up and slammed into the back of Hamlin multiple times.

The broadcast crew was mystified. The battle between Hamlin and Truex Jr. into Turn 1 was close, but nothing out of the ordinary. When he got out of his car and spoke to Jamie Little, however, Truex Jr. accused Hamlin of jumping the restart, giving himself the advantage he needed down the straight to beat Truex in the corner.

The replays showed… that Martin Truex Jr. may be correct. Hamlin seemed to gain an advantage on Truex Jr. before he crossed the white line on the track that denotes the start of the restart zone.

Strangely, however, Fox commentator Mike Joy quickly reported that NASCAR had already ruled that the restart wasn’t under review.

UPDATE: NASCAR told reporters after the race that it reviewed the restart and found nothing wrong. It’s unclear why Joy was told at the time and relayed on the broadcast the restart wasn’t under review.

This raised eyebrows among fans for several reasons. One, there would have obviously been no harm in reviewing the restart. There is no restart more important to extensively review than a green-white-checkered that determines a winner.

Since NASCAR is saying it did review the restart, it’s reasonable for fans to expect some kind of a breakdown explaining the call. NASCAR would presumably have the exact data it needs to either clear Hamlin of any wrongdoing or prove he jumped – which at this point it needs to do publicly. Every team gets a detailed stream of SMT data, which shows exactly when and where drivers are applying the throttle or the brake at any point of the track.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of verifying the race winner. A hypothetical post-race penalty for Hamlin – which doesn’t seem to be coming – would give the win to Joey Logano, locking him into the playoffs in what has otherwise been a brutal year for the No. 22 so far.

NASCAR told reporters that while the restart was “awful close,” officials deemed it to be legal.

Did NASCAR just get this call wrong?

LeBron James now has the most 30-point games in NBA history

LeBron James has added yet another record to his resume.

On Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets, LeBron James was cruising for three quarters. The Los Angeles Lakers played outstanding basketball overall in the first half to take a 67-44 lead at intermission, but their lead was trimmed to 11 at the end of the third quarter.

That’s when James put his foot down. He went into volcano mode in the fourth period, scoring 17 points while hitting on all four of his 3-point attempts. That gave him 40 points on the night and L.A. a 116-104 win.

That meant the 39-year-old moved past Michael Jordan for the most career 30-point games in NBA history with 672.

James’ critics will likely say this record is merely a function of his playing 21 seasons. While that is somewhat true, putting up the type of numbers he is at age 39 while being more efficient than he has been in years isn’t easy, and it takes quite a bit of dedication to one’s conditioning.

Denny Hamlin wins Cup Series race at Richmond, full results and race recap

Denny Hamlin wins the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. Check out the full results, race recap from Richmond!

NASCAR arrived at Richmond Raceway off a good weekend of racing at Circuit of the Americas, and it lived up to the hype. Martin Truex Jr. was on the way to his first win of the 2024 NASCAR season before Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace made contact for a caution. Then, NASCAR overtime ensued, which caused some controversy in the community.

After beating Truex on the final restart, [autotag]Denny Hamlin[/autotag] won the Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. However, some believe Hamlin jumped the restart before the restart zone. NASCAR said it reviewed the restart and deemed it OK, but the footage does show the No. 11 car inching ahead before the restart is legal.

Truex expressed displeasure with Hamlin and Larson after the race because his sure victory turned into a loss. For Hamlin, it represents his second win of the 2024 season, joining William Byron as the only drivers with more than one victory.

Toyota Owners 400 finishing order:

  1. No. 11 Denny Hamlin
  2. No. 22 Joey Logano
  3. No. 5 Kyle Larson
  4. No. 19 Martin Truex Jr.
  5. No. 9 Chase Elliott
  6. No. 20 Christopher Bell
  7. No. 24 William Byron
  8. No. 6 Brad Keselowski
  9. No. 17 Chris Buescher
  10. No. 45 Tyler Reddick
  11. No. 4 Josh Berry
  12. No. 10 Noah Gragson
  13. No. 23 Bubba Wallace
  14. No. 43 Erik Jones
  15. No. 1 Ross Chastain
  16. No. 54 Ty Gibbs
  17. No. 48 Alex Bowman
  18. No. 14 Chase Briscoe
  19. No. 12 Ryan Blaney
  20. No. 8 Kyle Busch
  21. No. 38 Todd Gilliland
  22. No. 99 Daniel Suarez
  23. No. 2 Austin Cindric
  24. No. 3 Austin Dillon
  25. No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek
  26. No. 34 Michael McDowell
  27. No. 77 Carson Hocevar
  28. No. 41 Ryan Preece
  29. No. 16 Ty Dillon
  30. No. 31 Daniel Hemric
  31. No. 15 Kaz Grala
  32. No. 51 Justin Haley
  33. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  34. No. 21 Harrison Burton
  35. No. 71 Zane Smith
  36. No. 7 Corey LaJoie

Ohio State lands nine players on PFF top ten positional rankings

Ohio State lands nine players on PFF top ten positional rankings #GoBucks

Pro Football Focus (PFF) has been releasing their top ten positional rankings for returning players and Ohio State leads the way with nine players making an appearance on their respective positional list.

Of the ten running backs ranked, two Buckeyes make the list with both Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson making the cut. Henderson finished last season with a PFF receiving grade of 73.6, which led all Big Ten backs. Judkins leads all current Power Five backs with 2,726 rushing yards since 2022.

Emeka Egbuka also made his positional list at wide receiver and will have an opportunity to be the number-one option in Columbus after the departure of Marvin Harrison Jr. Donovan Jackson is the lone offensive lineman to make his positional list.

Both Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau made the top ten list for the edge defenders and it makes sense considering Sawyer was the only edge last season to earn grades 85 or higher as both a pass-rusher and run-defender. Tuimoloau is fourth among Big Ten edge defenders the last two seasons with 69 pressures. Tyleik Williams also made his positional list after tallying 26 run-defense stops, which was second among Big Ten defensive tackles.

Denzel Burke also made the cut after forcing 10 incompletions this past season, which was 20th among Power Five cornerbacks. Caleb Downs was also the number one returning safety according to PFF.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Josh Keatley on X.

Former Washington linebacker Reuben Foster shines in UFL debut

Reuben Foster shines in UFL debut.

Reuben Foster was once a can’t miss-prospect. A star linebacker at the University of Alabama, Foster was a first-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for Foster in San Francisco, as Foster battled some off-field issues and was released in November 2018.

Washington, badly needing linebacker help, claimed Foster on waivers. Then-Washington president/general manager Bruce Allen took heat for the move as Foster was released by the 49ers due to a domestic violence arrest.

However, Washington stated it had done homework on Allen, with several of his former teammates on the roster, including Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, they felt comfortable with Foster’s character. Foster was eventually cleared of the charges and the NFL reinstated him to Washington’s roster.

Big things were expected of Foster, who had drawn praise from his coaches and teammates, but in May 2019, his NFL career changed forever. In an offseason practice, Foster tore his ACL and LCL. He spent the following two seasons on Washington’s roster but would never play in a game.

In January 2024, Foster was selected by the Houston Roughnecks in the UFL draft. The United Football League was a new spring league combined of former XFL and USFL teams.

On Sunday, Foster made his UFL debut, recording six tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.

What a performance from Foster.

There was a scary moment late when Foster went down with an apparent injury. Afterward, it appeared that Foster was fine.

Next week, Foster returns to the DMV when the Roughnecks face the D.C. Defenders at Audi Field.

NFL draft expert mocks Ohio State’s Harrison Jr. to Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers

Draft expert mocks Harrison to Harbaugh’s Chargers #GoBucks

A new mock draft is released every day, but few “draft experts” are as locked in as NFL.com’s Eric Edholm. He released his newest mock draft for the 2024 NFL Draft and it features a former Buckeye landing in the hands of a former Michigan coach.

The Los Angeles Chargers hold the fifth pick in the draft and Edholm has Marvin Harrison Jr. landing in that spot. After mocking quarterbacks to the first four selections, Edholm has Harrison as the first non-quarterback of the board.

The Chargers have recently hired Jim Harbaugh, who was the head coach for Michigan last season and seeing Harrison play in person should be more enticing for the former college coach. Many will probably say that there is no way Harbaugh drafts a Buckeye, but the man loves winning more than he hates Ohio State and Harrison paired with Justin Herbert is a winning equation.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Josh Keatley on X.

Caleb Downs earns top billing in PFF’s top returning safeties

Caleb Downs earns top billing in PFF’s top returning safeties #GoBucks

The hype around Caleb Downs is legit and he deserves every bit of it as he has already accomplished so much in his one year starting for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Expectations have been high for Downs since he committed to play football at Ohio State via the transfer portal and those expectations just continue to rise.

Pro Football Focus (PFF) is releasing their positional lists for the top ten returning players for 2024 and new Buckeye, Caleb Downs, is number one for the safeties. Downs is the only true sophomore to headline any positional list, which is a huge honor.

Downs is used to this type of hype as he was the highest-rated safety recruit since Derwin James in 2015 and he surpassed expectations earning All-American honors as a freshman at Alabama. His 89.9 PFF coverage grade was the third highest amongst Power Five safeties.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Josh Keatley on X.

Sooners 2026 QB target Dereon Coleman set for an unofficial visit to Norman

QB prospect Dereon Coleman set for unofficial visit to Norman.

Oklahoma’s top quarterback target for the class of 2026 is four-star prospect [autotag]Dereon Coleman[/autotag]. The talented signal-caller will be making an unofficial visit to Norman.

In a post on his social media page, Coleman announced he would visit April 11 and 12.

This is significant as the Sooners have already received multiple predictions in favor of Coleman to land with Oklahoma. So, getting him in the building should truly only add to the lead that Oklahoma may already have.

 

Oklahoma has plenty of quarterback depth on the roster right now. [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] takes over as the starter in 2024 and will likely hold the job through at least the 2025 season. Following Arnold, [autotag]Michael Hawkins[/autotag] and [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] will have the first crack at the starting job and current commit [autotag]Kevin Sperry[/autotag] is expected to join the roster next spring.

Coleman seems to be the Sooners’ number one focus at the position for 2026. He grew up an OU fan, so in many ways, this may be the perfect fit.

Aside from Oklahoma, Coleman is being recruited heavily by Ole Miss, Arkansas, Texas A&M, and USF.

As it stands, Oklahoma has just one commit in the [autotag]2026 recruiting class[/autotag]: four-star running back [autotag]Jonathon Hatton[/autotag].

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on Twitter @thatmanbryant.

Sooners sophomore point guard Milos Uzan set to enter transfer portal

Sooners sophomore Milos Uzan, who started all 32 games, is entering the portal.

Oklahoma will be in the market for a new starting guard. Sophomore Milos Uzan is expected to the transfer portal, according to a report Sunday evening from Joe Tipton of On3.

Uzan’s decision comes after the Sooners missed the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year.

The 6-foot-4 sophomore point guard averaged nine points, 4.4 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game this season, while shooting 39% from the field. He started all 32 games for OU.

A former four-star prospect, Uzan joined the Sooners in 2022-2023. In that first season with the Sooners, he cracked the starting lineup and finished with 7.6 points and three assists per game. Uzan was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.

Expectations were high for Uzan in his second season with the Sooners. There was even some NBA draft buzz. His numbers improved this year but didn’t quite reach the lofty heights some had anticipated. His decision-making never took a step forward.

One of the biggest knocks against him this year was his three-point shooting. His efficiency from deep dropped from 40.8% in his freshman year to 29.6% this season.

Uzan joins Otega Oweh and John Hugley as key rotational players departing for the portal this offseason.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on Twitter @thatmanbryant.