So, did anybody call Georgia Power? Because we had a big power outage on Saturday night at the Highlight Factory.

The Atlanta Hawks were up 11 in the middle of the fourth quarter when the offense got stuck on stupid for over five minutes. Jordan Crawford and Brandon Bass flipped the script from a double-digit deficit into a seven-point Celtics victory, the tandem outscoring Atlanta by themselves, 16-6 down the stretch of the final nine minutes. While Atlanta’s defense fell through the roof, Jeff Teague and Al Horford were the only Hawks capable of occasionally finding the basket in that fateful final frame.

What do you do with such a deflating fourth quarter, if you’re the Hawks and things suddenly stopped going your way? Well, you do with the game tape what Glen Davis would do to a check-in computer keyboard at a late-night motel. You grab it, rip it out from its moorings, hurl it across the room, and coolly stroll off into the moonlight. Like a boss.

Atlanta will be looking to get that Celtic green pixie dust off their shoulders and go wire-to-wire for a bounce-back win tonight at Philips Arena against yet another stumbling team, Big Baby’s Orlando Magic (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, FoxSports Florida).

The Hawks may be the NBA’s version of the Trust Fall Patsy, as downtrodden opponents are starting to count on Atlanta being there to break their descents. This was the team that ended the Nuggets’ 0-3 slide at the start to their season (Denver hasn’t lost at home since) and had the Knicks looking halfway functional for a minute (the only win for New York in their last eight games), before providing that late stab of adrenaline through the breastplate of a flat-lining Boston team that had previously dropped six straight.

Tonight, it's Orlando counting on Atlanta to be their trampoline. Since starting out at 3-2 behind a red-hot Nikola Vucevic, Jacque Vaughn’s squad seems to have run out of Magic tricks. Their sole win in the last eight games was a 3-point, scramble-from-behind victory over Larry Drew’s miserable Milwaukee Bucks, needing a career-night of 36 points from Arron Afflalo just to pull it off. This 8-game stretch of Magic games has foes shooting 48 FG% and averaging almost 105 points per game.

Orlando is the only Eastern Conference team still searching for their first road win of the season, and have lost seven straight in Atlanta, and 11 straight overall, to the Hawks. As Claus von Bulow knows, the Magic could sure use a reversal of fortune.

Orlando’s recent woes can’t be blamed on Afflalo. Double-A (honk honk) is in MCO having arguably his most efficient all-around season, averaging 21.6 points per game (12^th in NBA) and shooting 50.7% from three-point distances (6^th in NBA).The seven-year pro is also contributing career per-game highs in assists (4.7), rebounds (5.1), and steals (0.8). Shifted from shooting guard to small forward, Afflalo will be a tough cover for DeMarre Carroll, who hurt his wrist and back when he was shoved to the floor in the third quarter by Jared Sullinger on Saturday.

Vucevic has to be feeling a little strained in the paint. Since getting all but shut down (7 points, on 3-for-10 shooting, and 6 rebounds over 34 minutes) in Orlando’s 104-94 defeat to Atlanta on November 9, he has been slowly sliding out of the top of the NBA standings for points and rebounds, although he remains in the top 5 for defensive rebounding percentage. On Sunday, Nik had his first 20-and-10 game since he single-handedly dominated the Clippers three weeks ago.

Coach Vaughn, however, is beginning games rail-thin in the post around Vucevic, pushing Moe Harkless over to the 4-spot despite trivial production (exactly 5 points in each of his last three games, 3.3 RPG). Horford and Gustavo Ayón need to draw Vucevic into foul trouble, like he has been in the past three games. Nik’s reserve Kyle O’Quinn has been solid in limited minutes but is hampered by an ankle sprain.

The good news for Vucevic is Orlando is getting him some reinforcements, as power forwards Davis and Tobias Harris are working their way back into game shape. A revelation late last season, Harris debuted off the bench for the Magic in their eight-point home loss to Phoenix on Saturday afternoon, but was not terribly spectacular in 16 minutes of action (6 points, 0-for-3 on threes, 1 rebound). The man no one leaves the light on for anymore, Davis dropped a team-leading 20 points on the HEAT in his first game back Sunday after missing 11 months with a broken foot, but regressed the next night (6 points) versus the Suns.

One of Orlando’s big men will have to keep the struggleface on Paul Millsap, who went scoreless against Boston in the final quarter but posted 18 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in that November 9 encounter with the Magic, along with Mike Scott (17 points vs. Orlando). Andrew Nicholson (19 points and 8 boards vs. Phoenix, 3-for-4 on threes) would be a good play tonight due to his size and versatility.

It doesn’t look like Jameer Nelson will ever get to see Derrick Rose in the second round now. If he seems especially quiet lately, it’s not because he’s stilling chewing crow, but he is biting his tongue. Vaughn had been sitting Nelson in the fourth quarter of close games, electing instead to throw lotto-star rookie Victor Oladipo into the fire at the point position, his first time in that role in his hoops career.

It’s hard to say that maneuver is working, aside from vastly-improved on-ball defense. Opposing backcourts are still having their way – Dwyane Wade racked up 27 points on Saturday, then Gerald Green and Goran Dragic combined for 43 points on Sunday, the latter adding 13 assists with no turnovers. On the other end, Oladipo is shooting as poorly as Nelson (each with 38.6 FG%), but also turns the ball over 4.1 times per game (3^rd highest in NBA) while producing just 3.4 APG.

After Miami wiped out a double-digit deficit in the second half against Orlando on Saturday, Nelson (6.0 APG, 3.0 TO/G) did get in against Phoenix and helped close the Magic’s gap from 14 to three points in the final quarter. No one’s sure if Vaughn will go back to Oladipo again in a close contest, but if he does it speaks to his total comfort with his job security. An Oladipo-Teague pairing has the potential to be a high-pace affair, but might free up Kyle Korver (87 games with a three, and counting) to go streaking in the clutch.

Go Hawks!

~lw3