Why Does Atlanta own the Magic?
John Denton of Florida Today:
"The Orlando Magic have been the exception to the rule for years, mysteriously struggling against the Southeast Division-rival Hawks. Including its shocking 99-85 season-opening loss to Atlanta, Orlando has dropped six of the past nine games against the resurgent Hawks. And the Magic have been even worse in Atlanta, losing six of the past seven there. ... Magic star center Dwight Howard, an Atlanta native, has been confounded for years as to why Orlando always seems to struggle against the Hawks. This set of back-to-back games is a chance for the Magic to right what they deem to be a wrong against the Hawks. '(The Hawks) seem to have our number lately, but this is our chance to send a message to that team from the start of the game,' said Howard. 'They really play well at home and they are a good team, but if we go down there and dominate from the first quarter we can get ourselves a good win.'"
posted by WeRDevos @ 10:07 AM
2 Comments:
At 10:55 AM,
Big Figure said…
Its time to put up or shut up because talk is cheap. If you lose in atlanta the season isnt over obviously,but playing well against them could go a long way for our confidence. CL will get to guard the guy who's torched us time and time again,luckily for him he's a rookie so this will be joe's first time ever seeing CL which may play into our hands tonight.
At 5:34 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Let's take a look at how both teams are doing in different statistical categories:
Pts for: ORL 100.2 ATL 98.2
Pts against: ORL 93.1 ATL 94.9
FG%: ATL 46.0% ORL 45.5%
3 PT FG%: ORL 38.1% ATL 38.1%
FT%: ATL 74.8 ORL 71.3
AST/TO: ATL 22/13.4 ORL 19.1/14.2
REB: ORL 42.7 ATL 41.0
STL: ORL 7.5 ATL 6.8
BLK: ORL 6.1 ATL 5.2
The Magic have the edge in five categories, while the Hawks have the advantage in four categories. Both teams are tied in 3 point FG pct., which might come as a surprise to a lot of people that the Hawks shoot as well as the Magic from long range, because the Magic are one of the best teams at shooting long range.
That shows statistically, the teams are pretty close with the Magic with the advantage.
If you recall, in early November when the Hawks were 6-0 and the Magic were 4-3, I wrote a blog post where I proclaimed the Hawks as the SE division favorite because of how well they were playing, and because of how the Magic were underachieving at that point.
The Magic since then have made me look pretty foolish for writing that post, as they have proven they are the best team in the SE, but Atlanta has also proven that they are indeed for real, as they have the fourth best record in the East behind the Magic.
I really hope the Magic can win at least one of the two upcoming games against the Hawks, because as we all know, the Hawks have played the Magic as well as any team the last couple seasons.
The Hawks are 2 pt favorites tonight.
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