Atlanta Hawks Game Preview: Jan. 4 Orlando Magic

The Atlanta Hawks hit the road for a four-game trip this week. Their first stop sees them taking on the Orlando Magic. Can they avenge their early season loss to the boys in blue?

Orlando in January is just lovely. Sure, the tourists will tell you to go during the summer. That’s when Disney World and Universal Studios are at their most magical. However, in the middle of July, you can’t get red-hot Hawks/Magic action at the Amway Center! Checkmate, theme park enthusiasts.

The Atlanta Hawks are feeling themselves right now. Winners of three games in a row, and finally completely healthy, they may be on the path to something sustainable. Of course, with trade rumors swirling, there’s no guarantee how this team will look after the Feb. 23 trade deadline.

For today, the Hawks will play as currently constructed, and attempt to continue their ascent up the Eastern Conference standings. The Orlando Magic will look to put an end to this winning streak, and they know they have the ability to do just that.

The last time these two teams competed, the Magic got the upper hand. On Dec. 13, Orlando took down the Hawks 131-120. It was an offensive beat-down by the Magic. They shot 58.6 percent from the field and 44.1 percent from the three-point line. Compare that to their season averages of 44 percent from the floor and 33.9 percent from deep. The entire team had an out of body experience.

Serge Ibaka led the way with 29 points on 11-for-18 shooting. Evan Fournier also shined, scoring 23 points on 11-for-15 shooting. It was Atlanta’s worst defensive performance of the season, and a shooting display I’m not sure anyone saw coming from Orlando.

But, that was three weeks ago. Both teams are different now. Orlando comes into this contest off of a win. On Monday night they beat the New York Knicks 115-103, in a game where they also got a huge performance from Ibaka and shot lights out from three-point range.

The Magic have a 16-20 record this season. They’re not terrible, but they don’t seem to be nearing playoff contention. They’re in a messy gray area where they’re too good to tank, but not good enough to win at even a mediocre level. That’s not a good place to be in the NBA. The treadmill of sub-mediocrity?

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The Magic had a weird off-season, as many folks have written on. They hired Frank Vogel to be their new head coach, that was a good move, but they also made some strange personnel decisions. They loaded up on front-court players, some with overlapping skill-sets.

Their post rotation features Ibaka, Bismack Biyombo, and Nikola Vucevic. Not to mention Jeff Green and Aaron Gordon, two players that have spent most of their time at small forward this season, even though they are best suited to play power forward in the modern NBA.

Then there’s their guard rotation. Against the Knicks, they started D.J. Augustin and Jody Meeks. They also have Elfrid Payton, his hair, C.J. Watson, Fournier (who will likely miss the game against the Hawks), and little used Mario Hezonja. It’s really just a hodgepodge of random players they can’t seem to figure out how to use.

Their offensive rating this season ranks 26th (103.8 points per 100 possessions), while their defensive rating ranks 17th (108 points per 100 possessions). Those are indicators of a team that will miss the playoffs. It feels like they have a trade to be made, they just don’t know what it is yet.

Daily Fantasy Basketball Projections by numberFire

Despite the weirdness of the Magic’s roster, or perhaps because of it, there are still some interesting match-ups in this game. Paul Millsap vs. Serge Ibaka. Dwight Howard vs. Bismack Biyombo. Mike Muscala‘s hair vs. Elfrid Payton’s hair. There’s also always the chance that Aaron Gordon unleashes a rim-shattering dunk that sends the earth into an alternate universe. I like this universe, but sometimes a man just has to dunk. We can’t fault him for that.

The projections on numberFire.com give the Hawks a 52.93 percent chance of winning this game. That seems about right. The Hawks are clearly the better team, but Orlando has beaten them recently and the game is in Orlando.

This is the start of a huge road trip for Atlanta. If they stitch together an even longer winning streak, the front office may hold off on trading some of their key pieces. If they struggle, then a trade or two might become inevitable.

Next: Three Trade Scenarios For Paul Millsap

Who: Atlanta Hawks (18-16) @ Orlando Magic (16-20)

When: 7:00 PM EST, Wednesday, January 4th, 2017

Where: Amway Center

How: FOX Sports Southeast

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