Feast on the East! The Atlanta Hawks arrive at the back end of their home-and-home affair with the Orlando Magic (7:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, FoxSports Florida) with the most wins (13-4) against Eastern Conference opponents, including at least one win over each of the conference’s Bottom-9 teams. At least for a day, the Hawks (16-6; 11-1 in their last 12 games) can share the same record as the top team in the East, the lauded Toronto Raptors, with a win in O-Town tonight.

With a daunting uptick in the schedule beginning on Monday, the Hawks would like to keep positive momentum toward an 11^th straight victory, at home versus Chicago. But Atlanta can’t look past a Magic team that held its own against them for three quarters last night; a slip-up today will raise questions of whether they were caught looking past tonight’s opponents.

The Magic (9-16) are eager to please their home fans after dropping six of their first eight games at the Amway Center. Head coach Jacque Vaughn would also like to avoid the basement of the Southeast Division, as Orlando’s 1-5 in-division record keeps the bottom-dwelling Charlotte Hornets (6-16) nipping at their heels.

It will help the Magic tremendously to widen their rebounding advantage if center Nikola Vucevic (18.9 D-Reb%, 12^th in NBA) can play after having missed six games with a back strain. If Vooch cannot go again, Vaughn may try to bolster the frontline by finally dusting off Andrew Nicholson (8.4 minutes/game, 33.3 FG%), a sizable power forward whose confidence is almost gone following a promising 2012-13 rookie season.

Vaughn tried to preserve his starters as best he could on Saturday night, but Willie Green and three other Magic reserves (7 combined points on 3-for-21 shooting; 3 assists and 6 turnovers) were generally ineffective. Their overreliance on the starting lineup to force stops and make plays had most of them in foul trouble by the end of the game, ill-suited for Atlanta’s onslaught that finally arrived late in the second half.

Atlanta’s Al Horford certainly can put more pressure on the Magic frontline to stay out of foul trouble. He got the Hawks started on good footing last night with eight points in the first-quarter, but without more post-up opportunities he’s having a hard time getting whistles. When he does get the ball on the low block, he spends too much time setting up his maneuvers, holds the ball too low, and often turns the ball over. More immediate and decisive moves will help him get it going on the interior, and earn the referees’ attention. Last night’s game was the 11^th for Horford without a single free-throw attempt; in 29 appearances of his short-circuited 2013-14 season, Al got to the line in 25 games.

As demonstrated last night, the Magic are simply not experienced or skilled enough to outlast opponents in a purely back-and-forth halfcourt contest. A team as youthful as the Magic (lead guards Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton, in particular) should be using their athleticism to get out on the break (10.7 fastbreak PPG, 22^nd in NBA) more often than they do. Orlando’s 13.4 PPG off turnovers is next-to-last in the league, and the Magic mustered just three fastbreak points against the Hawks on Friday, further lowering Atlanta’s league-low points-allowed on the break (9.4 opponent fastbreak PPG). Orlando could certainly use an energetic boost from forward Mo Harkless, who has been doghoused, like Nicholson, for some reason.

The Hawks shot a season-low 37.2 FG% and still prevailed, thanks in large part to a defensive clamping-down on Magic ballhandlers that began in the mid-third quarter after Orlando stretched their lead to 11, and an uncanny sense of patience and trust that their perimeter shooting will eventually come around.

Kyle Korver and most of the Hawks reserves (Dennis Schröder, Elton Brand, Mike Scott, and Thabo Sefolosha) failed to shoot well, but hustled enough on defense to help turn the tide in Atlanta’s favor as Paul Millsap and Horford (40 combined points and 15 boards) carried the day at the other end. Filling in mostly for Pero Antić (out tonight as well, with the flu), Brand’s showing and trapping the Magic on pick-and-rolls were especially instrumental. Past editions of the Hawks would routinely concede, “It just wasn’t our night,” after going 1-for-15 from deep, no matter who they were playing; this group finished last night’s contest by hitting eight of their final 11 three-point attempts.

It’s hard to tell for sure whether it’s merely an anomaly -- or instead, some combination of mad-scientist coaching, fervent defensive stretches, and a conga line of inferior opponents -- but Atlanta is now 7-1 when they shoot below 44 percent from the field. That’s the same record they hold in games when they shoot over 50 percent.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3