It is almost game time for the Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic.
With so many teams trying to improve their lottery odds, there are several games on nightly NBA slates that don’t mean much for the playoff race, but tonight’s game between Atlanta and Orlando is going to be one that fans and analysts alike are going to have their eye on.
Atlanta comes into this game in 5th place in the Eastern Conference, 2.5 games ahead of the Magic, who are in 8th. The season is coming to a close and with the Hawks up 2.5 games and already owning the tiebreaker, this might be the last chance that the Magic have to close the gap. Lose this game and Orlando should already start planning to be in the play-in tournament once again.
The big news for tonight’s game is that nearly two months since playing his last game, the Magic are going to get back Franz Wagner tonight. Wagner is of course one of the best forwards in the NBA and Orlando is hoping that having him back will help break them out of this recent slump they have been in over the past ten or so games.
He is back in the starting lineup tonight. Here are the rest of the lineups:
Hawks
G- Nickeil Alexander-Walker
G- CJ McCollum
F- Dyson Daniels
F- Jalen Johnson
C- Onyeka Okongwu
Magic
G- Jalen Suggs
G- Desmond Bane
F- Paolo Banchero
F- Franz Wagner
C- Wendell Carter Jr
Ever since losing to Orlando in the play-in tournament last April, the Hawks have matched up very well with the Magic and are currently 3-0 against their Southeast Division rival this season.
The last matchup between these two teams went heavily in Atlanta’s favor, as the Hawks led by as many as 29 points and won by 12 after some garbage time points from Orlando made the score look better than it was in reality.
How the Hawks matchup and guard Wagner tonight is going to be key. In the last game between the two teams, Dyson Daniels guarded Jalen Suggs, Jalen Johnson guarded Banchero, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker guarded Desmond Bane. Who will guard Wagner tonight? CJ McCollum, while not an atrocious defender, is the weak link defensively in the Hawks starting lineup. Expect Orlando to try and attack him and get favorable matchups.
This is a big game with implications for both teams. Let’s see who comes out on top.
