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.

Friday, May 07, 2010

Game 2: Magic 112, Hawks 98... Magic lead series 2-0


After being embarrassed by 43 points Monday, Atlanta managed to stay competitive for three quarters against the Magic in Game 2 as they were more aggressive driving to the hoop and drawing fouls and connecting with their three pointers, but the Magic's superiority showed in the fourth quarter as the Magic put the game away with a 21-3 run and four Magic players finished with at least 20 points.

The game started as if it were going to be a Magic blowout early, as the Magic opened up with leads of 8-2 and 20-11 and finished the quarter with a 32-25 lead as Dwight Howard scored 18 first quarter points. The Hawks came on strong in the second quarter, opening with a 15-2 run to lead 40-34 and maintained a lead the rest of the half, as Howard sat much of the quarter to rest and picked up his third foul shortly after he came back in. The Hawks led 57-49 at the half. The Magic scored the first 9 points of the second half to take back the lead by a point, but the rest of the quarter was a seesaw battle which saw the Magic take an 84-83 lead after three after Jameer Nelson's buzzer-beating three pointer. The Hawks trailed 88-87 with 10:31 remaining when the Magic put the game away with their 21-3 run to lead 109-90 with 3:50 remaining, as the Hawks could get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

Magic leading scorers

Dwight Howard: 29 points (8 of 9 FGs, 13 of 18 FTs), 17 rebounds
Vince Carter: 24 points (9 of 16 FGs, 2 of 5 3 PT FGs), 7 rebounds
Rashard Lewis: 20 points (7 of 13 FGs, 3 of 8 3 PT FGs), 6 assists
Jameer Nelson: 20 points (7 of 14 FGs, 2 of 6 3 PT FGs), 6 assists
Mickael Pietrus (bench): 13 points (4 of 8 FGs, 2 of 3 3 PT FGs)

Overall Game Stats

FG%: ORL 55.9% (38 of 68) ATL 41.3% (31 of 75)
3 PT FG%: ATL 54.5% (6 of 11) ORL 39.1% (9 of 23)
FT%: ATL 96.8% (30 of 31) ORL 69.2% (27 of 39)
REB: ATL 41 (16 offensive) ORL 35 (8 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 16/9 ATL 16/12
BENCH: ATL 25 ORL 15

Other game notes and stats:

-Four Atlanta players finished in double figures, led by Al Horford with 24 points, 10 rebounds; Jamal Crawford added 23 points off the bench, Joe Johnson scored 19 points and Josh Smith 18 points with 9 rebounds; Marvin Williams led the Hawks with 11 rebounds
-Johnson and Crawford combined to shoot 12 of 34 from the field, but 5 of 10 on three pointers
-The Magic outscored the Hawks 63-41 in the second half on 21 of 34 shooting
-The Hawks made their first 28 FTs before missing one
-Howard played 39 minutes, and committed 5 fouls
-Pietrus scored 13 of the Magic's 15 bench points, while Crawford scored 23 of the Hawks' 25 bench points
-The Magic starters outscored the Hawks' starters 97-73
-The Magic outscored the hawks 85-68 from the field
-The five Magic starters combined to shoot 60% from the field (33 of 55)
-During the Magic's 21-3 4th quarter run, the Magic made 7 of 8 shots while the Hawks shot 1 of 11

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

Also, the All-NBA Team was chosen Thursday, with Dwight Howard a unanimous choice, along with LeBron James.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 4:11 AM  

4 Comments:

  • At 6:04 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    The Hawks definitely did play better than in Game 1, as they were a lot more aggressive in driving to the basket and drawing fouls than the first game, they outrebounded the Magic, and they connected on their three pointers... but then the Magic showed their superiority in the fourth quarter to finally blow the game open. This really has to be frustrating the Hawks, who were even with the Magic for 37 1/2 minutes but still did not come close to winning the game.

    Vince Carter showed why the Magic made the right decision in not re-signing Hedo Turkoglu, as VC is a much more explosive scorer than Turk, a better three point shooter than Turk, and an underrated passer and rebounder, too.

    D12 really unleashed a variety of low-post moves in the first quarter, and did a great job of making more than 70% of his free throws.

    This was the first time in Magic playoff history that they have had four players with 20 or more points in a playoff game.

    The Magic are unquestionably the hottest team of the playoffs, and are showing why they should be the favorites to win the title.

     

  • At 8:23 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    The majority of professional basketball community is acknowledging that Magic is the team to beat in the East, but some are hesitant to go as far as a championship series. ATL played just about as good as they could, and yet lost. Their jump-shooters had their points while Horford and Smith added some points, as well. However, when it mattered most in the 4th quarter, Magic locked down on defense and the offense went to work on ATL's defense which was already exhausted and a step or two slower.

    Once again, I cannot see how ATL would be able to win a game. Last night a lot of positives came into play for them, and Magic was laxed on defense in the first half, and yet they could not pull off a victory. As it stands, Magic will probably be resting again while BOS and CLE may engage in a bruising series. Nobody is going to mention 'rust' factor, this time.

     

  • At 1:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Check out THE Superman Benching. What a Beast!

    http://stacktv.stack.com/video.aspx?videoID=1369818620_109&ref=athlete43
    (Dwight Howard Bench Press)

     

  • At 1:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    DH on Dunking :

    http://stacktv.stack.com/video.aspx?videoID=1369819656_109&ref=athlete43

     

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