Gilbert Arenas may be on his way down to the JV squad. No one other than Dwight Howard can figure out how to score. The team has averaged 17 turnovers per game.

Gilbert Arenas

A lot of things are up in the air for the Magic going into Game 3 tonight, and this bodes well for the Hawks. Atlanta isn’t exactly free from its own worries–a surprisingly poor home record, how to contain Dwight, Al Horford’s knee and J-Smoove’s elbow– but Stan Van Gundy and co. are the ones in the spotlight this time.

For starters, Stan has yet to figure out his point guard situation. Gilbert Arenas, traded to the Magic from the Wizards in December, is quickly becoming the biggest front office blunder by the Magic, or maybe any NBA team this season. Orlando’s highest paid player ($17.7M in 2010/2011) averaged a measly 8 PPG in 49 regular season games with the Magic and has as many turnovers as assists in the first two playoff games (four). As of Thursday, Van Gundy was still undecided about his point guard situation for tonight’s game:

“I don’t know what we’re doing. I haven’t decided exactly what we’re doing. I know Jameer’s going to play a lot of minutes. I know we’re going to use J.J., I know we’re going to use Q and I know we’re going to use Ryan. As far as what we do at the backup point, I’m not totally sure.” ~Stan Van Gundy

And, the fans at Philips Arena will be sure to try and do their part in distracting Atlanta native Dwight Howard, who has not been shy about expressing his disgust with losing to his hometown team. Fans are being encouraged to wear white in a “Dwight-Out” in hopes of shaking up the Orlando star’s game.

“I guess they make it a point, since I’m the hometown guy, to try to bug me the whole game. I’m just going to not think about it and just focus on us.” ~Dwight Howard

Although they came in as the overwhelming underdogs, the Hawks appear to have the upper hand coming into tonight’s game against the Magic. Coverage starting at 8 PM EST on ESPN2.

Game 1 started out in a similar fashion to Game 2. Too bad for the Hawks that it didn’t end the same way as the Magic edged out a 88-82 victory, evening the series at 1-1. Neither team started off well, and just like Game 1, it was the Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson show for the Magic. The duo combined for 46 points (33 from Howard alone) while the rest of Orlando’s starters managed only 26. But this time, the Hawks couldn’t rely on their sharp shooting that had worked so well for them in Saturday’s game.

Before the series started, Hawks coach Larry Drew said it would all come down to defense. And that was certainly the case tonight– the Hawks just never seemed to be able to really turn it on. Neither team shot well–the Hawks shot 39.5% from the field while the Magic were at 34.6%, well below both teams’ season averages. But, the real difference came off the boards as Orlando out-rebounded Atlanta 52 to 39.

And, in keeping with the theme of unbalanced free throws that seems to be running throughout these playoffs (Bulls’ 32 to Pacers’ 17 FTA in Game 1; Heat 39, Sixers 15), the Magic went 29-for-36 (81%) from the line while the Hawks were only 11-for-17 (65%).

The Magic also seemed to be playing with a little more urgency and led the Hawks in fast break points, 14 to 7.

It was encouraging, however, that the Hawks didn’t default to their regular season defeatist attitude and managed to make a run for it late in the game. After being down by as much as 12 at the 6-minute mark in the fourth, the Hawks managed to come within 2 points with 2:43 left. But Orlando quickly shut the door thanks to a quick three-pointer by Jason Richardson and closed the game away.

Another encouraging sign for the Hawks was that Josh Smith’s sprained elbow did not seem to have a significant effect as the Hawks’ forward managed 17 points, second only to Jamal Crawford’s 25 points on the night.

The Hawks will return to Philips Arena for Game 3 on Friday night at 8 PM EST.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix has the Magic over the Hawks in 7. Honestly, I thought this was pretty generous considering the Hawks’ six-game tailspin to round out the season and a lot of other “Magic in 4″ predictions I’ve read that quickly rode the Hawks off. Also, the fact that Atlanta was swept by the Magic last year in a horrifically embarrassing Round 2 series isn’t exactly a fond memory I like to cling to. In the series last year, the Hawks lost by an average of 25.3 points, including a 43-point loss in the first game. Talk about a demoralizing way to start off the playoffs.

But this year, the Hawks have faired pretty well against the Magic, taking two of three in the regular season series. And the Jason Collins v. Dwight Howard story will make things interesting, as will Gilbert Arenas who has been recovering from knee injuries and managed a paltry 8 PPG average and 34.4 shooting percentage. Although really, any of Gilbert Arenas’s performances are interesting, especially the ones off the court.

It hurts, but putting my loyalties aside and throwing on the unbiased journalist hat for a moment, I think I’ve gotta go with Orlando. I did consider the fact that my position as a Hawks fan also makes me see (and harp on) the team’s flaws that much more than Orlando’s, in addition to just rooting for them. But let’s face it. A seven-game series is too long for the Hawks to be able to rely on wild swings of inconsistency and luck, especially without a home-court advantage. Magic in 6.

All season long, I’ve griped and groaned about the Hawks’ streakiness. Their “consistent inconsistency.” The fact that you never know what team will show up to play on a given night. The emotional roller coaster the team has taken me on over the course of the season.

Which Hawks team will show up?

But here’s another angle: other teams won’t know what to expect in the playoffs. Will they get the fast-break version of the Hawks or the team that plays a slow transition game? Will they be defending lazy jump shots or an aggressive inside game? (Ok, even I will admit that the latter is pretty unlikely.) Will Jeff Teague have a “no, I promise this is his breakout game!” night or another half-hearted performance and ride the bench most of the night? Your guess is as good as mine. And, more importantly, Stan Van Gundy’s guess is as good as anyone’s, as the Hawks will most likely take on the Magic in Round 1 of the playoffs.

Teams go through a lot of ups and downs throughout the season, and there is a lot of over-analyzing that can be done in 82 games. But the bottom line is that when playoff time rolls around, the regular season goes out the window and it’s anyone’s fair game. This could be anyone’s year. This could be our year. And besides, it’s the NBA Playoffs. Who knows Where Amazing Will Happen This Year?

There are 18 games left in the regular season, and time’s a ticking. I know consistency is not exactly our forté, and the guys like to keep emotionally invested fans like myself on our toes with all the up and downs, but if ever there was a time to make a push, it would be in tonight’s game against the Bucks.

Milwaukee is coming off one of its worst games of the season– a 87-56 loss to the Celtics and the lowest number of points for the team in franchise history. The Bucks are last in the league in points per game (91.2) and field goal percentage (42.5%).

“That’s about as humiliating a defeat as you’ll ever see,” remarked Bucks coach Scott Skiles.

The Hawks, on the other hand, are looking to build momentum off a win against Portland on Saturday night that snapped the team’s four-game losing streak.

While Milwaukee finds itself fighting for a chance at the playoffs, Atlanta is sitting complacently in 5th place in the East, 3 games behind the Magic and 3.5 games ahead of Knicks. Barring a complete meltdown, a playoff berth is pretty much in the books.

But while it would be easy for the Hawks to sit quietly on their toes– and it has certainly felt like that during the current 5-10 bout over the past 15 games– the team will need to pick up the pace on its current six-game home stand to ride into the playoffs with confidence and avoid another “nice-try-but-go-home” first or second-round elimination run in the playoffs.

Tipping off at 7:00 PM EST. Go Hawks!