The Orlando Magic will travel to Atlanta to take on the Hawks on Thursday night. The Magic are 11-4 and are in second in the Southeast Division while the Hawks lead the division at 11-3.
The Magic are coming off a disappointing and heart-breaking loss against the Miami Heat on Wednesday. It would be no surprise if the Magic will come into the game physically and emotionally drained.
The Hawks, on the other hand, come in rested and refreshed. They have not played a game since Saturday, a 96-88 loss at New Orleans.
Hawks’ starting Point Guard Mike Bibby is a game-time decision after he sprained his ankle in New Orleans on Saturday.
Tip-off is set for 8:00 pm EST and the game will be shown nationally by TNT. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can hear it locally on WDBO 580 AM and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm EST.
The Line: Atlanta – 2.5
Starters
Orlando
Dwight Howard
Rashard Lewis
Mickael Pietrus
Vince Carter
Jason Williams
Atlanta
Al Horford
Josh Smith
Marvin Williams
Joe Johnson
Jamal Crawford
Last Meeting: The Magic won 88-82 in Orlando on April 4, 2009. The Hawks had a four-point halftime lead, but the Magic held the Hawks to just 38 points in the second half. Dwight Howard finished with 21 points and 23 rebounds while Josh Smith had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks. Joe Johnson scored 21 points.
These two squads also met in the preseason in Orlando on October 23. The Magic dominated the game from start to finish, winning 123-86. Vince Carter scored 26 points.
Season Series: After winning the opening game of the season against the Magic 99-85 in 2008, Orlando took the next three games to win the season series 3-1.
Back on October 28, 2008, Joe Johnson’s 25 points led the Hawks to a 99-85 upset win in Orlando. Atlanta took a 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter and had built a 19-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 22 points and 15 rebounds.
On January 7, 2009, Orlando held off a late Hawks rally to win 106-102. Orlando led by 21 and had their lead cut to just four points before hanging on for the win. Joe Johnson shot just 5-of-17 and scored 13 points. Orlando’s Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and Dwight Howard all scored at least 20 points led by Howard’s 23 points and 19 rebounds.
The two teams met again two days later, this time in Atlanta. Orlando got off to an incredible start, taking a 41-18 lead after the first quarter. Orlando dominated the second quarter and had a 71-33 lead at halftime. This time, Orlando held Joe Johnson to just 11 points. Dwight Howard had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks but played just 27 minutes.
Their final meeting was Orlando’s 88-82 victory.
About the Magic: The Magic could really use win against the Hawks after having their five-game winning streak snapped in heartbreaking fashion.
The Magic could take some good out of what turned out to be a very bad night. Mickael Pietrus and the Magic did an excellent job of defending Dwayne Wade. Pietrus said that his goal was to be named to the NBA’s All Defensive First team. If he keeps guarding the likes of Wade, Paul Pierce and Kevin Durant like he has been lately, this goal could be attainable.
The Magic played good individual defense once again but gave up too many offensive rebounds that ultimately cost them the game. They held the Heat to shoot just 39.3%.
The Magic really need to get Rashard Lewis going. Lewis is shooting just 33% from the field on the season and is shooting just 17.2% from beyond the arc.
Jason Williams may have missed two key free throws on Wednesday night, but he is playing at a very high level and his 25-point, 8-assists, 3-rebound, 1-turnover performance against his former team, the Heat, was easily his best of the season. Williams’ defense may have been just as good as his offense on Wednesday. He shut down both Miami point guards.
About the Hawks: The Hawks are 11-3 and don’t seem to be a fluke. They already have wins against Portland, Denver, Boston, Miami and Houston.
The Hawks surprising start can be credited to their offense, which is the third most efficient offense in the entire NBA. The Hawks score an incredible 105.5 points per game. The Hawks shoot 47% from the field.
Atlanta’s offense, as usual, is led by Guard Joe Johnson. He is scoring 22.6 points per game, 5.4 rebounds per game, and 4.9 assists per game. Johnson is also shooting 44.6% from the field. He is an elite player in this league on both ends of the floor and should get more recognition than he does.
Jamal Crawford, who is traditionally one of the league’s most inefficient players, is playing well for the Hawks right now, but if Bibby is unable to go, the Hawks will lack a true Point Guard and will have to rely on Craword and rookie Jeff Teague to carry the load.
Their defense is just average in terms of efficiency, ranking 14th in the league, but they give up 98.9 points per game. Atlanta allows their opponents to shoot 45.5%.
The Magic will need to hit the boards a lot harder against the Hawks. The Magic were out-rebounded against the Heat 49-42 and will face a better rebounding team on Thursday night. Al Horford averages 10.1 rebounds per game while Joe Smith goes for 9.3 per game. Six players average over three rebounds per game for the Hawks. Atlanta has a defensive rebounding percentage of just 69%, but they are an excellent offensive rebounding team with a percentage of 32%.
The Magic had trouble against the Heat in the paint and had seven of their shots blocked. Atlanta is one of the better shot-blocking teams in the league, blocking 8.1% of all shots attempted against. Contrast that with the Magic, who block just 5.8% of all shots taken against them.
The Hawks allow an eFG% of 49.5%, which could be good news for a team that is excellent from behind the 3-point line like the Magic. Orlando shoots 45.3% from the field, but their eFG% is 51.5.
The Magic will need to keep up their defensive intensity (it would help if they could contain Joe Johnson like they did last year) and exploit Atlanta’s perimeter defense to win this game.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)