Magic host Hornets in early Christmas Day matchup

First off, I would like to wish all our blog contributors (Big Figure, OVERWADED, WeRDevos, Matt, and Ken), other commenters, and all our readers a Merry Christmas and a very happy holiday season!

For the first time in five years, the Magic (22-6) find themselves playing on Christmas Day, in a noon nationally televised game on ESPN, as they take on Western Conference contender New Orleans (16-8), with star G Chris Paul, who has made at least one steal in an NBA-record 108 consecutive games.

The Hornets are coming off a 100-87 loss to the LA Lakers Tuesday, which snapped the Hornets' four game winning streak, but the Hornets have still won 11 of their last 14 games.

The Magic are 4 1/2 point favorites to win their sixth game in a row.

For a complete game preview from Yahoo! Sports, click here