It will be a battle of division foes when the Orlando Magic (15-11) welcome the Atlanta Hawks (16-12) to the Amway Center. The game gets underway at 6:00 pm ET on Sunday, Dec. 20 and will air on FxS and FxF.
The Magic were victorious over the Trail Blazers 102-94 on Friday. Tobias Harris fueled the Magic, recording 25 points and 12 rebounds to notch his seventh double-double this season. The Hawks, meanwhile, are coming off a 109-101 win over the Celtics on Friday. Dennis Schroder shot 8-for-15 and led in scoring with 22 points.
Points at the line might be difficult to come by for the Magic in this contest. They are 30th in the league in free throw attempt rate (22.6), while Atlanta is among the league’s least foul-prone teams (allowing a free throw attempt rate of just 23.3, second in the NBA).
The Magic are a small one-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is presently unavailable. The Magic are attempting to build on their records of 15-11 Straight Up (SU) and 19-7 Against The Spread (ATS). In their last 10 games, they are 9-1 ATS.
On the other side, Atlanta has a SU record of 16-12 and an ATS record of 13-14-1. Atlanta has records of 4-1 SU and 2-2-1 ATS against the Southeast. Atlanta is one of the top foul-shooting teams in the league, hitting .801 of their shots from the line. The Hawks are a top-five team in the league at finding the open man with an average of 25.1 assists per game. Atlanta makes opponents pay for turning the ball over, leading the league in points off turnovers with an average of 20.4 per game.
This is the first meeting of the season for the division rivals. The last time they played Atlanta came out on top, bringing its SU record in the past 10 games to 7-3. The Magic hold the advantage ATS with a record of 7-3.
Predictions: SU Winner – Orl, ATS Winner – Orl
Notes
Orlando is 9-3 SU in its last 12 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Orlando’s last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Orlando’s last 7 games at home.
Orlando is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home.
Orlando is 3-13 SU in its last 16 games when playing Atlanta.
The total has gone UNDER in 19 of Orlando’s last 25 games when playing Atlanta.
Orlando is 2-6 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Atlanta.
Atlanta has a 4-1 record against the Southeast Division this season, while Orlando has a losing 1-2 record against the division.
On average, Atlanta scores 101.0 points per game (ranked 17th), while Orlando gives up 98.3 points per game (ranked sixth).
Atlanta puts up an average of 100.2 points per away game (ranked 12th). Orlando ranks 15th in points allowed per home game with 98.4.
In games where they allow fewer than 100 points, the Atlanta Hawks are a solid 10-4. In games where they score fewer than 100 points, the Orlando Magic have an underachieving record of 3-6.
When the Atlanta Hawks allow at least 100 points they are 6-8, while the Orlando Magic are 12-5 when they reach the century mark.
Atlanta’s offense and Orlando’s defense both rank eighth this season. Atlanta has an offensive rating of 103.6 and Orlando has a defensive rating of 99.7.
Atlanta has an average field goal percentage of 45.6% (ranked sixth). Orlando is an abysmal 1-5 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
Orlando attempts an average of 22.0 three pointers per game, and Atlanta attempts 26.0 per game. In games where the teams have 25 or more three point attempts, the Magic are even at 5-5 while the Hawks have a 7-9 record.
Atlanta ranks near the top of the league with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.77 (ranked fourth). Orlando is ranked 13th, with an A/TO of 1.54 this season.
Atlanta ranks 28th in rebounds per game with 40.6, while Orlando ranks seventh with 45.3.
The Atlanta Hawks rank 30th in offensive rebounding, while the Orlando Magic rank ninth in defensive rebounding.
On average, the Hawks force a turnover rate of 16.4%, ranked third in the NBA. When the Magic turn over the ball at a similar or higher rate, the team has a winning 6-3 record.
