The opportunity to clinch the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference and face the defending champions Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs will be on the line Tuesday night, as the Orlando Magic host the Atlanta Hawks at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Magic finished 41-41 and atop the Southeast Division standings, as they became the first team since the NBA-ABA merger to finish atop a division without a winning record. They finished one game ahead of the Hawks, who ended the regular season on a three-game winning streak to finish up at 40-42.
The two foes have played each other four times already this season. In the final game of the regular season, with many key players resting, the Hawks defeated the Magic 117-105 in Atlanta. Orlando won two of the other three meetings, and all three were decided by single digits.
Among the four play-in tournament games Tuesday and Wednesday, the player with the highest points prop in any of them at FanDuel Sportsbook is in this contest. Nope, it's not Trae Young. It's actually Paolo Banchero, whose points prop is 29.5, with the Over at -112 and the Under at -118.
Banchero averaged 25.9 points in 46 games played this season, but he torched the Hawks by averaging 33.3 points in three meetings against them this campaign. That's Banchero's highest scoring average against any team that he played multiple times this year.
Young has the second-highest points prop at 27.5, while Banchero's teammate Franz Wagner is next at 25.5. Besides being the top scorer on the Hawks, Young leads the NBA with 11.6 assists per game. His assists prop is at 9.5, with the Over a sizable favorite at -138 and the Under at plus money at +104.
The Magic are 5-point home favorites for this contest, according to SportsLine consensus odds, after they opened slightly higher at -5.5. Orlando is -204 (bet $204 to win $100) on the money line, while Atlanta is +169 (bet $100 to win $169) to pull off the upset and secure the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. The total has dropped by a point from 218 to 217.
If you're looking to wager on player props, particularly on whether Banchero has another big night against the Hawks, the SportsLine model has you covered. It refreshes the most recent data and can help you spot discrepancies in the lines. The SportsLine model, which can be found on every game forecast page on SportsLine under the "Prop Picks" tab, assigns ratings of up to five stars for each projected value play on every NBA slate. Those picks can help build winning parlays on DraftKings, FanDuel, PrizePicks, Underdog Fantasy or Sleeper Fantasy and in same-game parlays on any betting site.
Let's check out the SportLine model's three highest-rated player prop recommendations for Hawks-Magic and see what the payout would be if they were put into a same-game parlay -- and check out the optimal same-game parlay for every game on Tuesday's NBA schedule at SportsLine.
Hawks-Magic Same-Game Parlay (+623)
- Cole Anthony Over 5.5 points (-114): 4.5 stars
- Wendell Carter Jr. Under 8.5 rebounds (+110): 3.5 stars
- Paolo Banchero Under 44.5 points + assists + rebounds (-120): 3.5 stars
The only 4.5-star recommendation among both play-in tournament games tonight is the Over on Anthony points. The SportsLine model has a huge edge on this player prop, as it projects Anthony to score 11.2 points against the Hawks. Anthony is averaging 9.4 points on the season. Even though his scoring output has dipped to 7.5 points in six April games played, that's still higher than the 5.5-point prop that's been hung here.
Let's add a plus-money play to this SGP to boost up the overall price. Carter Jr. is only averaging 5.6 boards over his past five games, going Under his rebounding prop in four of them. The SportsLine model likes that recent streak to continue tonight, as it spit out 7.8 rebounds for Carter Jr.
While Banchero has put up some monster games against the Hawks this season, there's a trend pointing to the Under on Banchero's points + assists + rebounds prop against the Hawks. Banchero hasn't cleared this prop in six of his past nine home games against a bottom-third defense, only averaging 35.1 points + assists + rebounds in that stretch. He's been calculated for 42.0 tonight.
