Orlando Magic Blog

Group Blog talking about the NBA 2009 Eastern Conference Champions. Due to the amazing success of the 2009 playoff run comments are now frequently deleted to kill offensive comments, incoherence, or asininity. Comments can no longer be anonymous and require either a Blogger or OpenID account.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Game review: Magic (25-12) 113, Hawks (23-13) 81


Many Orlando Magic fans were probably expecting the worst from the Magic Saturday night after the Magic looked abysmal in losing 4 games in a row to sub-.500 teams. Instead, the Magic played maybe their best game of the season against a quality Atlanta team, leading by as many as 38 points on their way to the 32 point victory, solidifying their hold on first place over the Hawks in the SE.

The first 8 minutes of the game were actually very close, with the lead going back and forth between the two teams. The Hawks' last lead of the game was 15-14 with under 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the first. The Magic went on a 15-6 run to lead 29-21 going into the second quarter. With the Magic leading 33-24 early in the second, they broke the game wide open, outscoring the Hawks 33-13 the rest of the quarter to lead 66-37 at halftime. The Magic extended their lead to as much as 38 points at 87-49 in the third before settling for a 91-59 lead after three. The closest the Hawks would come in the final quarter was 26 points before the resounding 32 point Magic victory.

Magic leading scorers

Matt Barnes: 18 points (8 of 11 FGs), 7 rebounds
J.J. Redick: 17 points (7 of 12 FGs, 3 of 6 3 PT FGs)
Ryan Anderson: 16 points (5 of 10 FGs), 5 rebounds
Jason Williams: 14 points (6 of 9 FGs, 2 of 4 3 PT FGs), 6 assists
Rashard Lewis: 13 points (4 of 8 FGs)
Dwught Howard: 12 points (4 of 8 FGs), 7 rebounds, 3 blocks
Mickael Pietrus: 11 points (4 of 11 FGs), 6 rebolunds, 4 steals

Overall Game Statistics

FG%: ORL 52.4% (43 of 82) ATL 39.7% (31 of 78)
3 PT FG%: ORL 42.9% (12 of 28) ATL 23.5% (4 of 17)
FT%: ORL 75% (15 of 20) ATL 60% (15 of 25)
REB: ORL 45 (11 offensive) ATL 35 (9 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 15/12 ATL 12/16
BENCH: ORL 46 ATL 33

Other game notes and stats:

-J.J. Redick started in place of the injured Vince Carter, nursing a sprained left shoulder
-The Hawks had 4 players in double figures, led by Al Horford's 14 points
-The Magic outscored the Hawks from the field 98-66
-Magic backup C Marcin Gortat grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked 4 shots in addition to scoring 5 points in 25 minutes off the bench
-Redick was the only starter to play more than 26 minutes, as he logged 37 minutes of playing time
-Jameer Nelson was the only Magic starter not to score in double figures, scoring 7 points along with 4 rebounds and 2 assists
-The Hawks' starting guards (Bibby and Johnson) combined to score just 12 points on 3 of 14 shooting
-The Hawks' bench combined to shoot 12 of 36 (33%)
-After missing their first two shots of the second quarter, the Magic made 17 of their remaining 24 shots of the half (71%)
-From the 5:32 mark of the third quarter to the 1:32 mark of the fourth quarter (16 minutes), the Magic made just 4 of 24 field goals, but the Hawks could only get as close as 26 points.
-Brandon Bass, Anthony Johnson, and Adonal Foyle did not see action for the Magic

Here is the complete recap and box score from nba.com.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:18 AM  

5 Comments:

  • At 4:14 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    One thing this game proved for sure... as much as we all think Brandon Bass is a good player, there is no way he deserves playing time at Ryan Anderson's expense. Anderson is much too good a player not to see any action at all during a game, like the previous 2 games, and hopefully Van Gundy won't have this brain cramp again.

    Look at all Anderson did in only 21 minutes... 16 points on just 10 shots.

    In fact, efficiency was the word of the night for the Magic, as their top 6 scorers all had more points than field goals attempted.

    Redick did fantastic in place of Carter, and hopefully when VC returns to the starting lineup, he can be just as efficient as J.J. was.

    Howard's fast start seemed to set up the Magic's outside game for the rest of the game.

    Hopefully this win gives the Magic the much-needed shot in the arm they needed as they prepare for a very difficult upcoming road trip.

     

  • At 12:53 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    This was the kind of game which would cure a lot of ills provided that we know what they are. Coach Van Gundy said that he had spoken to coaches and players (I hope on one-on-one basis), but he did not elaborate what was the content of their discussion. Obviously - gathered from players' statements - the latest stretch of back-to-backs with one day in between had its toll on the team, but that was not all. There was a lot on one-on-one plays going on with Vince, Dwight and Jameer which were not producing results; there was less of those kinds of plays, partly due to Vince being out and partly by design with the exception of plays at PF position. Jason's change of pace was magnificent; we did not separate ourselves from ATL until Jason came in in the second quarter. As Jameer picks up the level of his game, coach Van Gundy should not hesitate for sending Jason in when Jameer's walking up the ball slows down the game. We are at our best when we are pushing up the tempo so that the opponents do not get the chance to set up their defenses.

    Magic is back on the right track, and as emphatically as possible.

     

  • At 1:48 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Small sample of good basketball seeing as how the hawks only put up a fight for about a quarter. I need to see more from the magic against a game opponent. At the same time we've been saying throughout the losing streak that the team is starting to put things together,last night was some very good evidence. Im not surprised by the outcome of the game or how well we played,the magic were showing signs in the last two games. Im glad to see RA get his playing time,but why is it that BB is now relegated to the bench? Its either or with SVG and it makes no sense to me. If one plays the other is guaranteed not to see the floor,why?

     

  • At 5:36 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Big Figure:

    I don't read too much into playing RA but not BB in the last game. Without saying that this might be the case, how about allowing RA, who has been out for the two games prior, to get a bit of practice time to feel comfortable in rotation?

    I didn't want to be second guessing the coach after an outstanding game, but now that you have opened up the Pandora's box, I have not heard all the right things that I wanted from the coach: 1) He said that he had talked to coaches and players but has he talked to players on one-on-one basis?; 2) he said that he didn't want to get on players' case because the defense has actually improved, but numbers in the four game lost do not support that statement, and he cannot say it was all due to offensive inefficiency; and 3) while he used Jason quite liberally last night, and was all praise on him, I am still not sure that he would not hesitate to inject Jason in place of Jameer if he needs to speed up the pace, as was the case in BOS's game. My hard guess is that becuase Jameer has the support of Otis Smith - blind politics - go figure.

    In short, I am not certain that all is fine with proper lines of communication between the coach and the players. He needs to establish individual connections with each and every one of players, and I cannot say with any degree of certainty that he has reconnected.

     

  • At 9:03 PM, Blogger Ken said…

    I tend to agree with Big. This was a very small sample. I'm not going to get to excited over this one game. Especially after the Hawks played the Celtics the previous night.

    I also don't want to second guess SVG's decisions, but I don't know if we will ever get a totally straight answer out of the new warm and cuddley SVG.. I think SVG was just so happy to break the 4 game losing streak that he wasn't about to cause waves by criticizing anyones play..

     

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