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Magic feel urgency entering contest versus Hawks

The surprising Orlando Magic will try to keep their playoff hopes alive on Sunday when they host the Atlanta Hawks in the second game of a five-game homestand.

The Magic (32-38) are one game behind the Miami Heat (32-36) for the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Orlando is trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011-12.

Orlando has won both meetings against the Hawks this season and has prevailed in eight of the last 12. They play for the final time on April 5, again in Orlando.

Atlanta lost a 129-120 decision at Boston on Saturday afternoon, which broke its two-game winning streak. Although the Hawks are only 24-46, they have played much better in the second half, particularly on offense. Atlanta is averaging 123 points since the All-Star Game and erased a 25-point deficit against Boston to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

Part of Atlanta's second-half success has been due to the continued improvement of rookie guard Trae Young and second-year forward John Collins.

Associated Press

The Orlando Magic are favored by 8pts.
Baby Hawks legs must be tired.

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How about some “load management” for Vucevic. I’m sick of him. 18 footer and rebound us to death.

The Atlanta Hawks conclude their final multi-game road trip with a stop down in Orlando, where the Magic have been waiting for them (6:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports Florida) while watching them wrangle with the Celtics. I’ll use this space to issue a formal Notice of Apology to Darryl Gerard Augustin, Jr., who I have long used as a cheap-and-easy punchline.

Going into this season, I could not believe the Magic were rolling out Augustin, signed back in 2016 to be Elfrid Payton’s long-term backup, as the lead ballhandler, on a team that professed to be finally ready to contend for a playoff spot. Like much of Central Florida in July, you should expect little shade in this preview directed toward D.J., given the season he has enjoyed.

Much has and will be made of who the Hawks came away with, using their top pick in 2018’s NBA Draft, and how they went about coming away with him. But in my mind, GM Travis Schlenk’s biggest ploy to date had as much to do with bringing Trae Young to Atlanta, and the whole future flexibility thing, as it did with keeping him out of Orlando’s clutches.

I am confident I will one day have to post an NOA about Mo Bamba, the rookie behemoth who was shelved in February for the season to repair a tibial stress fracture. But do you really believe the Magic were just sitting there on Draft Night, at Pick #6, just waiting for Bamba to fall into their laps?

Nah. The whisper campaign to plummet Young’s value (“omg, sources say he might fall all the way to the bottom of the Lottery!”) almost worked perfectly for Magic brass John Hammond and Jeff Weltman. Nothing gets a team unstuck like a creative passing point guard who is also a perimeter scoring threat, and (sorry, D.J.!) there was no better fit in this draft than Young and the Magic.
You could see it so easily, Trae getting the mouse-ears treatment and paraded about town all summer, then the apprentice applying his sorcerer magic to befuddle guys like the Hawks’ Dennis Schroder for years to come.

Rather than settle for the next-best point guard options (Collin Sexton, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) on their draft board, Orlando settled for shoring up their frontcourt defense, and then patching up the point guard spot as best they could, coming into 2018-19.

Once Bamba’s selection obviously obviated the need to hang on to Bismack Biyombo, the Magic swung a Biyombo-Timofey Mozgov-Julyan Stone 3-way swap, in hopes former Bulls small guard Jerian Grant might be the small-a answer (narrator: “HE WAS NOT.”) They added some depth with undrafted rookie Isaiah Briscoe (watch this space this summer, btw, as he’s Kyrie’s cousin), who showed some flash off the bench before getting sidelined recently with surgery for a meniscus tear.

Looking ahead to next season, they’re now hoping former #1 overall Markelle Fultz, acquired at the trade deadline for Jonathon Simmons, will be able to fix his ailments and compete at a high level. But for this year, any hopes of getting in the Eastern Conference playoff mix, in the post-LeBron era, hinged and still hinges on a 31-year-old wayfaring Augustin (last and only playoff start in one game in 2013, with the Pacers), a lottery pick from 10 years ago, playing at a career-best level. And, oh my, has he delivered.

D.J. keeps playing that song with career-best shooting (43.2 3FG%, 7th in NBA) and sound ball control (5.0 APG, 1.4 TOs/game, 14th in NBA for A:TO ratio). He has benefitted under the tutelage of possession-principled coach Steve Clifford to ensure that Orlando (8th-lowest team TO%; 6th-best A:TO ratio) doesn’t get too reckless with the rock.

Uninhibited by Trae or anyone else, D.J. dished out a season-high-tying ten assists and had zero TOs as the Magic made quick work of the Hawks, 124-108, back on February 10. It was Orlando’s second blowout win over Atlanta in the space of three weeks. The February win was the middle of a 7-1 run for the Magic. Closing out that month with a home win over the half-baked Warriors, and days later winning at Indiana, was indicative of a team that finally wants to stop getting in its own way.

Bouncing back one day after a Wednesday loss at Washington, Augustin poured in 20 points as the Magic cluster-bombed the Cavaliers, 120-91 (31 team assists, 9 team TOs), here at Amway Center. They are hoping more of the same against the Hawks will assure fans they’re not slipping back into bad old habits. They sit just a game behind division-leading in-state rival Miami for the final slot in the NBA Playoffs, something Orlando (32-38) hasn’t been treated to since 2012.

Augustin’s steady performances have ensured that first-time All-Star pivot Nikola Vucevic (career-bests of 20.6 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 3.9 APG), jumping jack forward Aaron Gordon, and shooters Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross don’t have to play too much outside of their comfort zones. To bolster the depth chart behind Augustin after Briscoe’s injury, the Magic brought in another former lottery hopeful, Michael Carter-Williams, on a ten-day deal, and one can be assured MCW will likely get another contract soon.

If the Magic had their way, Augustin was going to be the Jeremy Lin for Trae Young, as an experienced backstop already under contract for this season and next. Instead, Augustin has been needed to counteract Young’s play with the Hawks (2-for-7 3FGs in 2 games vs. ORL, 13 assists in 55 minutes, 7 TOs), as he has done twice already. D.J. will need to do it twice more between today and on April 5, when these teams meet here at Amway Center again.

Trae’s worst plus/minus average thus far (minus-42.8, through 4 games, as per bball-ref stats) came at the hands of Kyrie’s Celtics, including yesterday’s accordion of a game that Boston survived, 129-120. The rookie’s second-worst plus/minus output has been versus Orlando (minus-36.9), including his worst defensive efficiency (129, min. 2 games played) versus any Eastern Conference foe.

Young sticking with Augustin and making proper decisions on Magic screen plays will be key to keeping coach Lloyd Pierce’s charges from digging yet another crater to climb out from. Anyone else Orlando switches onto Trae would enjoy considerable size mismatches on offense. The Hawks are better served by Kevin “Rhubarb Pie” Huerter and DeAndre’ Bembry tracking Fournier and sixth-man Ross (37.1 3FG%) along the perimeter than having wings help with Augustin.

Orlando is a preferred vacation destination for NBA referees. To help maintain control of possessions, beyond keeping unforced errors to a minimum, the Magic are physicality-averse, committing just 18.8 personal fouls per-48 (2nd-lowest in NBA), and drawing a league-low 18.5 personals per-48 (NBA-low 18.8 FTAs per-48).

The Magic not drawing block/charge whistles or gambling for steals ought to work well for Atlanta, if Young and the Hawks’ ballhandlers can feed John Collins (20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists @ BOS) and Dewayne Dedmon (signed his first rest-of-season contract as a rookie with Orlando five years ago today; season-high 24 points on 5-for-7 3FGs vs. ORL in January) early and often in the paint. Dedhead had a team-high 13 rebounds and 3 steals in Beantown, but he will be eager to make up for a rough scoring outing yesterday (2-for-10 FGs).

Vucevic (29.1 D-Reb%, 6th in NBA) and backup Khem Birch are laser-focused on boxing out, so first-shot execution will be key for Atlanta since second-chance buckets will be hard to come by. Atlanta will need to resort to a diverse array of swift post-up and pick-and-pop actions to unsettle Orlando (NBA-low 10.8 opponent second-chance points per-48) inside.

As always on the back end of back-to-backs, Atlanta will need more than just Central Floridian Vince Carter (50.0 3FG% last 6 games, incl. 4-for-6 3FGs @ BOS) to excel off the bench. Pierce relied on the 42-year-old Carter for just 16 minutes in last Sunday’s back-to-back game against the Pelicans, and it is too much to ask of Vince to be impactful on consecutive contests.

Crystallizing happy Old Dominionist Kent Bazemore’s play during Atlanta's second-half comeback in Boston and spreading it over a longer term today will benefit the Hawks, as will getting a rested Alex Len to finish plays inside. Defensive rebounding and sparking transition will be essential for the Hawks (24-46) when Coach Cliff relies on Magic reserves, aside from Ross, to take shots (42.8 bench FG%, 27th in NBA).

The final playoff seed is within reach for Orlando (seven remaining games vs. sub-.500 teams, five of them at home), and there’s a good chance the top seed will be making do without Malcolm Brogdon in the opening round. If the Magic play at least .500-ball the rest of the way, and if D.J. helps pull off any upsets in first-round games, Floridians may soon be discovering a whole new Saint Augustin.

Éirinn go Brách! Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3

Isaac was a big problem for Collins in the last two games. Would like to see him make some adjustments.

Vucevic would be of my opinion the best addition to our roster coming free agency.. will not happen but a man can have desires

My goodness lw, you DJ swung danced me through the beautiful preview and tied it all together at the end just as beautifully. Saint Augustin on St. Patty’s!

Trae as an Orlando Magic with DJ as his mentor and Aaron Gordon as his target to finish oops... ummm, people throw around the phrase “perfect fit” and that woulda perhaps better than Trae even landing with us. (Washes my mouth with soap).

Loved the Dedhed reference as well.


Game time!!!

Go Hawks!!!!

Wow Vooch is a beast man.. completely tearing apart everyone.. 11pts and 6 rebs already? Damn son slow down

They're looking like they don't want to be there.

17 pt first quarter for Vooch? Can the Hawks ever stop that guy? Please pursue this guy hard in the off season.. please

Dedmon has been a complete liability the last couple of games.. Just **** the bed out on the floor

Too many Turnovers.

Gordon Hayward learned yesterday and today DJ...avoid John Collins shoulder to the mouth if you can. Owwwiieee!

When has Baze been this bad over such a long stretch? He would be fine if he would just play D and stop with all the bricks. Every time he shoots I know it's not going in.. I can't wait for Baze to be a former Hawk

Uh oh...the Trae wink on MCW! (Wink #2 on the night DJ got the 1st).. ITS ON NOW! Poked the bear too many times!

Rough game to watch.. Trae is not shooting enough as of late. Seems hesitant to pull the trigger when the rest of the team is bricking everything

IheartTHEhurt wrote:Rough game to watch.. Trae is not shooting enough as of late. Seems hesitant to pull the trigger when the rest of the team is bricking everything

17 shot attemps for Trae.
It's the TOs that are killing us.

jayu70 wrote:

IheartTHEhurt wrote:Rough game to watch.. Trae is not shooting enough as of late. Seems hesitant to pull the trigger when the rest of the team is bricking everything

17 shot attemps for Trae.
It's the TOs that are killing us.

Yeah those too for sure