{"id":671627,"date":"2026-03-22T00:18:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T00:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/671627\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T00:18:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T00:18:32","slug":"lakers-vs-magic-best-bet-odds-nba-picks-predictions-saturday-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/671627\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers vs. Magic best bet, odds: NBA picks, predictions Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New York Post may be compensated and\/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our links. Featured pricing is subject to change. <\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Jalen Suggs of the Orlando Magic smiles during a game, Image 2 shows Luka Doncic and the Lakers are on fire entering Saturday's game\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1242\" height=\"828\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8370a665c6d131e11a2a5295e497832e.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Lakers Magic<\/p>\n<p>With the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting\/nba-betting-sites\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:NBA;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">NBA<\/a> being such a long season with peaks and valley, handicapping a team riding a streak involves experience and perspective.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Lakers have won eight straight games, positioning themselves as the Western Conference\u2019s third seed and owning the tiebreaker over the three teams right below them in the standings.<\/p>\n<p>A large reason for this surge is Luka Doncic scoring at least 30 points throughout this run, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/news\/lakers-star-luka-doncic-mvp-232116095.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:including 60 in Thursday\u2019s win;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">including 60 in Thursday\u2019s win<\/a> at the Miami Heat.<\/p>\n<p>In just a few days, he\u2019s moved from a 100\/1 MVP long shot to 15\/1 odds as the second favorite.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers visit the Orlando Magic on Saturday as 2.5-point favorites with a total of 230.5 points.<\/p>\n<p>The Magic are riding their own streak, but they have lost three straight games.<\/p>\n<p>They have now fallen out of a playoff seed and currently sit seventh in the Eastern Conference, which is a play-in spot.<\/p>\n<p>Orlando should absolutely be ready for this matchup, but I also think the Lakers will avoid complacency.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Jalen Suggs during a March 19 game against the Magic. NBAE via Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/feb579cfb90c50dd5477b2e83380d798.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jalen Suggs during a March 19 game against the Magic. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, the Lakers will be seeking revenge for a home loss to Orlando last month.<\/p>\n<p>Betting on the NBA?<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers have improved their defensive effort lately but they\u2019re still not a strong unit.<\/p>\n<p>I think they will have a tough time defending Orlando, which has a sharper offense since Jalen Suggs returned from injury.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, the Magic play a lot faster this season with Desmond Bane compared to last year.<\/p>\n<p>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, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/news\/draftkings-promo-code-bet-5-135254225.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:DraftKings;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">DraftKings<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s also the rare personality who has documented success \u2013 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Post may be compensated and\/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,497,1409,461,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,368,48,295,6,76,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-671627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-desmond-bane","10":"tag-eastern-conference","11":"tag-jalen-suggs","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-lakers","14":"tag-lakers","15":"tag-lalakers","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-losangeleslakers","20":"tag-luka-doncic","21":"tag-magic","22":"tag-miami","23":"tag-nba","24":"tag-orlando-magic","25":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116269960840679959","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}