The Orlando Magic's 43-point drubbing of the Atlanta Hawks should not have surprised anyone, given the recent history between the two teams. Prior to that game, Orlando had won 6 of the 8 regular-season meetings since 2008, with 4 of those wins coming by at least 17 points.
Via basketballvalue.com, here are some brief facts about the Magic's head-to-head performance against Atlanta since opening night of the 2008/09 season, which also marks the Hawks' only double-digit victory over Orlando in that timeframe.
| Magic | Hawks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pts. | Poss. | ORtg | Pts. | Poss. | ORtg |
| 908 | 812 | 111.82 | 770 | 821 | 93.79 |
More facts I dug up:
The Magic have also held leads of 50, 46, 38, 21, and 20 points during this span. The Hawks' big lead, 19, came in the first game of the 2008/09 season. Since then, Atlanta has never led a game against the Magic by more than 12 points.
The Hawks' 10-point second quarter last night was their worst quarter against the Magic during this period, but not by much. Twice, they've managed just 11 points--including the third period last night. They also have quarters of 14 and 15 points on the books against Orlando.
In the last 7 meetings between the teams, the Hawks' best field-goal shooting performance is 40.8%.
And, just for fun, the SB Nation blogging software shows three distinct photos of a dejected Hawks bench looking on during three different Magic games. There are also two such photos of coach Mike Woodson watching with a look of sad resignation on his face.
Over the last two seasons, the Magic have consistently shown they know how to handle the Hawks. The stats and facts presented here bear that out.