The New York Knicks were looking a lot better early on in the season, when they were hovering around playoff contention. But the roof caved in, and the question becomes how they move ahead. On Friday night they will play host to the Orlando Magic in a game that is set to begin at 7:35 PM ET at Madison Square Garden. BetAnySports patrons have it good, because even after the contest gets underway, they can keep challenging the basketball betting odds as they rock and roll with Live Betting Extra.

After the Knicks had gone into a slump, Phil Jackson, the team’s director of basketball operations, made the move to fire Derek Fisher as head coach and replace him with Kurt Rambis. Fisher had been brought aboard right out of the playing ranks, and had some difficulty getting his legs under him. But the controversies he was a part of were perhaps a little too much to deal with. That included an affair with the estranged wife of Matt Barnes of the Memphis Grizzlies, which led to an altercation. Rambis hasn’t necessarily had much of an effect on this situation, and New York is currently on a 2-13 run. They did put forth a nice effort last time out at Indiana, losing by three points as Carmelo Anthony missed a triple at the buzzer that could have ties it.

In the reduced juice basketball betting odds that have been posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, the Knicks are favored:

New York Knicks -2.5 (-102)

Orlando Magic +2.5 (-108)

Over 208.5 points -103

Under 208.5 points -107

Orlando has won both meetings this season, and they were very unusual in that the first one, on November 25, both of these teams shot less than 40%, but when they had the rematch on December 21, they both shot better than 50%. The Magic has covered eight of its last 11 games, and they have gone “over” in 11 of the last 15. Last night they extended themselves, for sure, as they lost 130-114 to the Golden State Warriors, in a game where they were nip-and-tuck with the defending champs much of the way, but Stephen Curry proved to be way too much for them, as he exploded for 51 points.

Aaron Gordon had his career high of 19 points, and this youngster from the University of Arizona is going to get the chance to play a bigger role after the trade of Tobias Harris. Meanwhile, BetAnySports customers have seen that Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings, who came over from Detroit in that trade, are going to be useful for the Orlando bench.

The big issue, of course, with both teams is that they don’t really possess the ability to defend. The Magic have allowed their opponents to shoot 47.4% over the last 15 games, including a bloated 55% in the last three. The Knicks have yielded 48% shooting or higher in four of their last five. And in those four games they went over the total, naturally. With 13 losses in 15 games, and just two basketball pointspread covers in their last dozen, the Knicks may simply not have what it takes to turn back an Orlando team that may have less than 100% in the tank.

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