Magic make it 5 in a row with win over ATL
After the Hawks pulled to within 5 pts midway through the fourth quarter, the Magic finished the game on a 22-10 spurt to cruise to a 105-88 victory. The Magic have now won 13 of 17 games, 9 out of 10 games, and 10 home games in a row.
A great team effort by the Magic with 6 players in double figures, led by DHoward with 20 pts and 16 rebs. Also contributing were JNelson (17 pts), HTurkoglu (16 pts), DStevenson (14 pts), Darko (13 pts), and KDooling (10 pts). CArroyo sat out due to the strained hamstring he suffered against MIA, but his teammates sure picked up the slack. Six players scored in double figures for ATL, led by Al Harrington (19 pts). Joe Johnson, who torched the Magic in two previous games this year, was held to just 12 pts.
Great stats for the Magic tonight. They outscored ATL from the field 88-70 on 52.6% FG shooting. ATL shot 43%. The Magic shot 17 of 24 from the FT line (70.8%). ATL shot 18 of 26 (69.2%). ATL C ZaZa Pachulia missed the game due to an achilles injury, and that really hurt them as they were outrebounded 46-39 by the Magic. The Magic had great ball movement with 27 assists, and only 12 TOs. ATL's assist-to-turnover ratio was just 10-11. The ATL bench outscored the Magic bench 48-31, but that was due to two of ATL's starters playing only 4 and 6 minutes.
The Magic started out slow, falling behind after one quarter, before waking up and then pulling away in the fourth. Good job by Coach Hill helping the team maintaining its focus of one game at a time and not suffering a letdown. The only bad news: PHI beat WAS, so the Magic remain 3 games behind PHI.
A great team effort by the Magic with 6 players in double figures, led by DHoward with 20 pts and 16 rebs. Also contributing were JNelson (17 pts), HTurkoglu (16 pts), DStevenson (14 pts), Darko (13 pts), and KDooling (10 pts). CArroyo sat out due to the strained hamstring he suffered against MIA, but his teammates sure picked up the slack. Six players scored in double figures for ATL, led by Al Harrington (19 pts). Joe Johnson, who torched the Magic in two previous games this year, was held to just 12 pts.
Great stats for the Magic tonight. They outscored ATL from the field 88-70 on 52.6% FG shooting. ATL shot 43%. The Magic shot 17 of 24 from the FT line (70.8%). ATL shot 18 of 26 (69.2%). ATL C ZaZa Pachulia missed the game due to an achilles injury, and that really hurt them as they were outrebounded 46-39 by the Magic. The Magic had great ball movement with 27 assists, and only 12 TOs. ATL's assist-to-turnover ratio was just 10-11. The ATL bench outscored the Magic bench 48-31, but that was due to two of ATL's starters playing only 4 and 6 minutes.
The Magic started out slow, falling behind after one quarter, before waking up and then pulling away in the fourth. Good job by Coach Hill helping the team maintaining its focus of one game at a time and not suffering a letdown. The only bad news: PHI beat WAS, so the Magic remain 3 games behind PHI.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:03 PM
5 Comments:
At 2:13 AM,
OVERWADED said…
It was nice to see the Magic take care of business on a back-2-back when they started out the game flat.
At 9:21 AM,
WeRDevos said…
I was in agony when Outlaw was the first big off the bench because of "match-ups."
Arrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh!
Thankfully Darko came in during the 2nd and caused his own match-up problems and helped along a nice easy win.
Anyone know the status of Arroyo's hammy?
Anyone see Dwights big happy reaction to hearing he had 6 assists?
At 10:11 AM,
Big Figure said…
YEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH (dwight howards response to hearing he had 6 assists,a very loud drawn out yeah)! Another good win,finding a way to keep focus against a bad team,starting the game flat and finishing strong is a learning experience for them to take everyone serious,and they did,when they got into a groove the hawks had no answer (about 3minutes before halftime we woke up),its nice to see BO be big when pat used to get those minutes(i gotta give BSH credit for that,BO played great against shaq)keyon,ariza & bo/dwight kinda remind me of the heart & hustle days when they come in,and the fact that BO was the first sub off the bench against a small team to "match-up",means BSH is finally learning,and he still was able to get darko some minutes too,good job all around last night,coaches and players! And according to matty guokas,carlos should be ready to go in san antone on thursday!
At 10:38 AM,
Big Figure said…
Two things i love about this team,(1)dwight's youthful exuberance & touch that he puts on the team,when you see the guys in their huddle before tip off,dwight's the one in the middle dancing/laughing and getting them ready to go,giving the team an identity,a spirit about themselves,that in the face of this big business,you can still make basketball fun and be effective on the floor at the same time,most up-coming superstars of his caliber,arent as humble and dont accept taking on a smaller role as the season goes o,they bitch and moan,but not dwight,as jameer & hedo have been the go-to-guys in the fourth and no longer so many post ups for dwight late in the game,we havent heard one unpositive word from dwight,he just shows how at such a young age he could show some vets a thing or two,comes everynight with that same energy and mission to keep his guys loose,how lucky are we that okafor wasnt chosen #1! And (2) The way coach hill has made himself more than just a coach to his players,ya know we all complain bad or good about BSH,and we all agree he's not the greatest,but could you imagine if you asked our players what they think about him,they're responses would probably shock us,last night when the players left the floor when time ran out,BSH made it a point to "high five" all his guys,thats a rare thing in basketball,i never saw Larry Brown high five anybody unless they won a championship,never seen phil jackson do it,to me it said that he's starting to communicate with these guys and share their enthusiasm,and not taking the drill sargeant approach showing no satisfaction or emotion,players like to know that they are going to war for someone who cares about them,and can celebrate with them in victory,and keep them focused on getting back on track in defeat,i think coach is finally coaching!
At 12:41 PM,
OVERWADED said…
I never thought I'd say this, but I've been happy with B Hill. I've never minded how he gets fired up and pissed off at times. No matter what, he always seems to have the players backs. Dwight recently was asked about his relationship with Coach Hill and had nothing but positives to say about him. Of course he couldn't bash him even if he didn't like him, but Dwight doesn't seem like the kind of kid that could fake it and lie. It's obvious the team is happy right now, and Francis was a stumbling block for this team all year long. No matter what, B Hill has to get some credit with what is going on. As far as Bo getting some time, I'd much rather see him on the floor than Pat. Honestly, Bo earned some minutes for last nights game after the way he played in Miami. And I understand why Hill brought him in first, because the team was looking tired, and everybody knows that when Bo gets on the court he is anything but flat. His energy kind of rubbed off on some guys last night. What he does isn't always going to show up, but like bigfigure down below said, he just brings that "Heart & Hustle" energy to the floor, and is a really positive example for all of our guys. I never thought I'd be happy with a B Hill rotation, but I can't complain. Sometimes I wish Darko would get a little more playing time, but I'm thinking that is going to happen next season, along with him taking a starting position for this team.
Bigfigure also mentioned "humble" in regards to Dwight... It's a great quality, and I think it's rubbed off onto a lot of other guys. He knows he's the "franchise player", but he doesn't act like it. How many franchise players do you see act the way Dwight does? Most of them are bitches, and you can tell by the way they carry themselves. Of course they are still nice to have out on the court, because they help win games, but a bond and chemistry is tough to form when your franchise player is an asshole. There are a few good examples of these kind of guys around the league; KG, Duncan, Nash, Kidd, and you might as well include Billups or Wallace in that list. Dwight has a pure quality that is rare in the NBA now a days, pretty much the opposite of what Francis was, and with him as the face to our franchise, Nelson as his sidekick, among others, the sky is the limit here in O-Town.
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