NBA

The Orlando Magic is an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Orlando Magic competes in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Southeastern Division of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was established in 1989 as an expansion franchise, and such notable NBA stars as Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway, Patrick Ewing, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Steve Francis, Dwight Howard, Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, Dominique Wilkins and Hedo Türkoğlu have played for the club throughout its young history. As of 2019, the franchise played in the NBA playoffs for exactly half of its existence (15 playoff appearances in 30 years), and twice went to the NBA Finals, in 1995 and 2009.Despite reaching the NBA Finals twice they have not won the championship yet, losing in 1995 to the Houston Rockets, and in 2009 to the Los Angeles Lakers. Orlando has been the second most successful of the four expansion franchises that entered the league in 1988 and 1989 in terms of winning percentage, behind only the Miami Heat.

The Orlando Magic and Miami Heat had an intense rivalry, mostly stemming from playoff contests and the rise to stardom of Dwight Howard and Josh Smith, both 2004 NBA draft picks who were raised in Georgia.

The two teams met three times in the 1996, 2010 and 2011 NBA playoffs. The Orlando Magic defeated the Hawks in the second round of the 1996 playoffs 4-1, and swept the second round series 4-0 in the 2010 playoffs, while the Hawks eliminated the Orlando Magic 4-2 in the first round of the corresponding 2011 playoffs.