Magic at Hawks
Atlanta looks to continue its longest winning streak in 17 years when it puts an eight-game run on the line at home against Orlando on Friday. While impressive, each of the Hawks' opponents during the surge are under .500 as of Thursday, the latest being Eastern Conference doormat Philadelphia, which offered little resistance in a 95-79 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday. Kyle Korver and Paul Millsap scored 17 points apiece for the Hawks, who have held opponents to 87.9 points during the streak.
Atlanta should have a great chance to keep alive that particular trend against Orlando, which has dropped seven of its last 10 while reaching 100 points just once. The Magic were done in by a Bradley Beal buzzer-beater in a 91-89 loss to Washington at home on Wednesday, blowing an eight-point fourth-quarter lead and a five-point bulge in the final minute. The teams split four meetings last season with each claiming a win in the opponent's arena.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), SportSouth (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE MAGIC (9-15): Orlando is on the verge of seeing starting center Nikola Vucevic return from a back sprain that has kept him out of five straight games. Vucevic left the lineup amid a solid start that left him atop the team leaderboard in rebounding (11.7) and second in scoring (18.6), and he still entered Thursday tied for the NBA lead with 13 double-doubles. Kyle O'Quinn has picked up the bulk of the minutes and is averaging 12.6 points in 20 minutes over the five-game stretch.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (15-6): Head coach Mike Budenholzer called Wednesday's win "kind of ugly," a reference to his team's need to rely on its defense to get past the lowly 76ers, as Atlanta had its lowest scoring output since Nov. 15. The presence of Millsap, who leads the NBA with 2.3 steals per game, helps on nights like that, as does that of point guard Dennis Schroder. The second-year standout had four thefts in 21 minutes off the bench and ranks fourth on the team in that category despite being seventh in minutes played.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Korver has made 38 straight free throws.
2. Orlando owns seven of its nine wins on the road.
3. Hawks PF Mike Scott was held out of the Philadelphia game due to flu-like symptoms.