Magic try to get closer in playoff chase vs ATL
The red-hot Magic (32-44, 23-14 home), coming off a huge win at MIA, face a struggling Hawks team (24-52, 7-31 road) coming off a 1 pt loss to MIN yesterday. It is absolutely imperative that the Magic avoid a letdown tonight.
Joe Johnson (20.4 ppg), Al Harrington (18.6 ppg), and ZaZa Pachulia (11.6 ppg 8 rebs) lead the Hawks. Josh Smith (10.8 ppg), Ty Lue (10.5 ppg), and Josh Childress (10 ppg) also average in double figures. ATL is averaging 96.9 ppg and allowing 101.7 ppg. The Magic average 94.6 ppg, and allow 96.1 ppg.
Two things point to a Magic win... they have dominated ATL in TDW, winning 11 of their last 12 meetings. Also, ATL has dropped 39 of 45 games this year when scoring fewer than 100 pts, and they have not won on the road since March 1st against TOR. Magic are looking for their 5th win in a row, 10th in a row at home, and 9 out of 10 overall. The Magic are solid 7 1/2 pt favorites to beat the Hawks (www.pinnaclesports.com).
Joe Johnson (20.4 ppg), Al Harrington (18.6 ppg), and ZaZa Pachulia (11.6 ppg 8 rebs) lead the Hawks. Josh Smith (10.8 ppg), Ty Lue (10.5 ppg), and Josh Childress (10 ppg) also average in double figures. ATL is averaging 96.9 ppg and allowing 101.7 ppg. The Magic average 94.6 ppg, and allow 96.1 ppg.
Two things point to a Magic win... they have dominated ATL in TDW, winning 11 of their last 12 meetings. Also, ATL has dropped 39 of 45 games this year when scoring fewer than 100 pts, and they have not won on the road since March 1st against TOR. Magic are looking for their 5th win in a row, 10th in a row at home, and 9 out of 10 overall. The Magic are solid 7 1/2 pt favorites to beat the Hawks (www.pinnaclesports.com).
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:35 PM
4 Comments:
At 2:02 PM,
Big Figure said…
Atlanta is one of those teams that scares me,they play small ball at the forwards,which is gonna put alot of pressure on our guards and forwards to make smart decision's,taking advantage of height mismatches down low with more bounce passes to our bigs for dunks and lay-ups,posting up dwight and darko (even battie if the matchup is against JHoward or AHarrinton),and lobs over the top,forcing us to be aggressive but yet smart with the ball (turnovers & charges called against us)! Dwight & battie/darko have to do a better job on pachulia also,thats the main thing i'm gonna be looking for tonight,coupled with whether BSH will go small at some point to match-up?,or will he stay with his normal rotation and try and force our "NEW FOUND SUCCESS" on them?,either way i think we can play both equally well on our floor,and we beat the hawks by 6 or 7........Hopefully arroyo is ready to go also!
At 2:25 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Some quotes from the Heat about their loss to the Magic last night:
From Dwyane Wade: "This team (Magic) came out and beat us. Every time we made a run, they came back and made a run."
From Udonis Haslem: "We didn't come ready to play. Give Orlando credit. They played a good game tonight and beat us."
Pat Riley blamed himself for the loss, saying he made several coaching errors in substitution, play-calling, and couldn't inspire his team.
PHI hosts WAS tonight. The Sixers snapped out of their losing streak with a surprisingly easy win at CHI Saturday night, and w/o Chris Webber. If PHI loses and the Magic win, the Magic will be only 2 games behind the Sixers and 2 1/2 games behind the Bulls with the Bulls hosting NJ Tues. night.
At 2:43 PM,
Matt said…
Did you read that sorry Magic Playoff picture (just a few lines) in Sentinel? All Brian Schmidt could say was that they need some help. But as I posted yesterday, Magic's chances are more than average and rather good, especially the way they are playing now. If they do their part of not losing to ATL and TOR (improbable but you never know), the tough match would be with SA, and if Magic wins that match and CHI & PHI lose two of their remaining matches, then Magic will be controlling its own destiny in playing both CHI and PHI at home. By winning at home since they should have tiebreakers against both, it would come down to winning the last match in IND. It would be interesting to see how things would develop right before the match with SA.
At 2:55 PM,
Matt said…
One other factor to remember ... PHI and CHI are both coming to Orlando on a back-to-back from MIA while Magic has one day of rest each time.
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