The Hornets are in Orlando today to play the Orlando Magic of Orlando. There will be bouncing and running and possibly some jumping, so it figures to be an exciting game.

I was going to bust free of the bullet-point format today and deliver a long swooping verse-like preview for this game, but then I though to myself, why bother?

And so it goes…

• The Magicians have a nice shiny 16-10 record, which was much nicer and shinier before they dropped five of six recently, including losses to Toronto and Charlotte.
• Orlando bounced back in their last game, beating the visiting Cavaliers 81-74 on Saturday.
• One explanation for their recent struggles could be something called injuries. Usual starters Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu and reserve Keith Bogans have all missed time recently. It says here that only Bogans is expected back tonight, while the AP game preview says Nelson and Turkoglu should be good to go. To help clear things up, there's this preview over at the Magic official, which tells us nothing about the status of any of those guys.

  They call this the information age, you know.

• Leading the Magic is of course man-beast Dwight Howard, who is averaging 17.1 points, a league-leading 12.7 rebounds and 2 blocks a night. He's like the big-man version of Chris Paul.

  Howard has been struggling to score lately, averaging less than a dozen in the past four games. Hopefully Tyson Chandler can beat him to the boards tonight and limit his effectiveness on the offensive end. That could be the key to the game right there.

• I'm as surprised as you are that Grant Hill isn't one of those injured guys in Orlando right now. He's played and started 22 of a possible 25 games so far this season, scoring about 15 points in 30 minutes a night. Aww.
• Beyond that, the Magic don't have a whole lot of weapons. They average just 93ppg while holding their opponents to about the same, so I have no idea how they're one of the top teams in the East.
• Looking at the guards Orlando will likely have available tonight suggests Chris Paul should have himself a ballgame.
• Cheerleader photo galleries.

And that about does it. No mention of that trade yesterday because I promised myself I wouldn't cry. The usual mucho linkage is below. Tip is at 6pm because of something called time zones? It's a crazy world we live in.

• Magic team stats
• Orlando Sentinel
• Believing in Magic
• How to ride a unicycle