Game review: Magic (31-16) 104, Hawks (30-16) 86
The Magic continued their recent dominance over Atlanta, as they outscored the Hawks 55-42 in the second half and were led by Dwight Howard's 31 points, 19 rebounds, and 3 blocks. The Magic reclaim first place in the SE by a half game over the Hawks and also the second seed in the East.
Atlanta started out fast, scoring 16 of the first 22 points of the game, but the Magic were able to cut their deficit to 21-18 after one quarter. The Hawks had their last lead of the game at 27-26 with over 8 minutes remaining when the Magic took the lead for good and led at the half 49-44. The closest the Hawks came in the third quarter was 57-54 with 7:22 remaining before the Magic went on a big 17-2 run to go ahead 74-56 late in the quarter and led after three 77-63. The Hawks tried to come back, as they came within 81-72 with 8:43 remaining before the Magic put the game away with a 19-8 run and cruised to the final.
Magic leading scorers
Dwight Howard: 31 points (10 of 16 FGs, 11 of 18 FTs), 19 rebounds, 3 blocks, 4 turnovers
Rashard Lewis: 17 points (6 of 10 FGs, 3 of 7 3 PT FGs)
Ryan Anderson (bench): 16 points (7 of 11 FGs 2 of 4 3 PT FGs), 5 rebounds
Jameer Nelson: 14 points (5 of 7 FGs), 5 assists
Overall Game Statistics
FG%: ORL 54.2% (39 of 72) ATL 39.5% (32 of 81)
3 PT FG%: ATL 33.3% (7 of 21) ORL 30.4% (7 of 23)
FT%: ATL 75% (15 of 20) ORL 70.4% (19 of 27)
REB: ORL 43 (6 offensive) ATL 34 (5 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 20/11 ATL 16/10
BENCH: ORL 32 ATL 30
Other game notes and stats:
-Four Hawks scored in double figures, led by Joe Johnson with 19 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds; Jamal Crawford came off the bench to score 19 points but shot just 6 of 17 from the field
-J.J. Redick had a career-high 7 assists along with 8 points off the bench
-The Magic starting frontline outscored the Hawks' starting frontline 52-27 on 18 of 31 shooting compared to 11 of 29 shooting and outrebounded them 27-12
-The Magic's Vince Carter scored 6 points on 2 of 7 shooting in 22 minutes and added 3 rebounds and a steal
-All 10 Magic players who played scored, and all 10 had a positive +/- rating
-The Magic's Mickael Pietrus scored 2 points on 1 of 5 shooting in 23 minutes
-The Hawks' Zaza Pachulia fouled out in just 14 minutes, and Jason Collins had 4 fouls in just 5 1/2 minutes
-The Hawks were whistled for 25 fouls, the Magic 15 fouls
Here is the complete recap and box score from nba.com.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:31 PM
4 Comments:
At 4:56 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Lots of positives to take from this game... the continued emergence of Dwight Howard offensively, good games from Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson, and outstanding bench play from Ryan Anderson and J.J. Redick. Good team defense overall from everyone.
Yes, Vince Carter had another poor shooting game, but took just 7 shots in 22 minutes.
It looked like the Hawks would finally be competitive with the Magic after the Hawks jumped out to a 16-6 lead, but the Magic made quick work of that and put the game away in the second half.
At 5:25 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Matt, in answer to your question on Saturday about the Magic W/L record when Mickael Pietrus starts compared to when Matt Barnes starts:
The Magic are 18-5 when Pietrus starts, but were just 5-4 in the last 9 games Pietrus started before Coach Van Gundy made the switch to Barnes on Dec. 30th.
The Magic are 14-10 when Barnes starts, but are 5-1 in the last 6 games that he's started.
They each started together in one game, which the Magic won.
Pietrus and Barnes played virtually the same amount of minutes Saturday (almost 24 minutes apiece). Neither had sensational offensive numbers (Pietrus 2 points on 1 of 5 shooting, Barnes 4 points on 2 of 5 shooting), but Barnes had the better overall numbers (5 rebounds, 2 assists and a +10 rating compared to 2 rebounds, an assist and a +4 rating for Pietrus). They both were a part of the good team defense, though.
With J.J. Redick solidly entrenched as the backup SG, Pietrus will have to be content to get his numbers as the backup SF to Barnes.
At 10:39 AM,
Matt said…
Good.
At 11:48 AM,
Big Figure said…
Very good win! Matt barnes continue's to impress defensively as Joe johnson had a tough start while barnes was guarding him,JJ didnt start to get it going offensively until MP came into the game. It was really tough watching MP out there just gunning from three in the first half,i was surprised to see him back out there in the second half and at least he drove the ball to the basket which got RA a hoop. Matt & dwight together are doing a fantastic job of taking away a teams top scorer,against boston and against the hawks MB has funnelled guys to dwight with tough defense and dwight makes the block at the rim. Matt hounding players on the perimeter and dwight protecting the rim is a recipe for defensive success. I like what im seeing out of this team defensively more than anything else. VC,MB and MP all scored 6 pts or less and we still won going away which shows we have plenty of fire-power even with them struggling.
Post a Comment
<< Home