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MickyEyez · 03-10-2008, 10:48 AM

@

Atlanta Hawks (26-36) vs. Orlando Magic (40-24)

7:00 PM EST, Amway Arena

Atlanta Hawks

Bibby/Johnson/Williams/Smith/Horford

Orlando Magic

Arroyo/Evans/Turkoglu/Lewis/Howard

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Quote:

The Orlando Magic are nine games up on their closest pursuer in the Southeast Division, and have proven they can beat the other top teams in the Eastern Conference.

One club they haven't been able to defeat, however, is the Atlanta Hawks.

Orlando looks for its seventh win in nine games Monday when it hosts the Hawks, the only team in the conference it is winless against this season.

The Magic (40-24) have knocked off the top two teams in the East - Detroit and Boston - twice each, and they're 8-1 against their three division rivals other than Atlanta.

They failed, though, in their only attempt to beat the Hawks, losing 98-87 at home Dec. 10. It was Orlando's third straight loss to Atlanta (26-36) and fourth in five tries dating to the start of the 2006-07 season.

"I felt they really kicked our butts," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said after his team shot 39.7 percent from the field in that game. "They made it very difficult on us to get quality shots."

Orlando's problem in its last five games against the Hawks has been offense. The Magic are averaging 104.4 points in 2007-08 and have been the third-highest scoring team in the East over the past two seasons, but they've scored only 88.0 points per game against Atlanta in that span.

Scoring was again the issue for Orlando in its last game, at least for the final three quarters. The Magic led Golden State - the league's worst defensive team - 36-27 after one period, but were limited to 59 points the rest of the way and lost 104-95.

The disheartening defeat snapped the Magic's three-game winning streak.

"There is no excuse for what happened tonight," Van Gundy said after watching his team commit 20 turnovers. "We got beat because their energy level was a lot higher than ours. We just got outplayed."

Dwight Howard is the NBA's leading rebounder at 14.5 per game, and he's averaging a career-high 21.7 points this season. Atlanta native Howard, however, hasn't approached those numbers in his last five games against the Hawks, averaging 14.0 points and 9.6 rebounds.

Rashard Lewis has made more 3-pointers than anyone but Charlotte's Jason Richardson, and Lewis is hitting at a 49.0 percent clip from beyond the arc in his last seven games. The Hawks have defended the 3 well recently, though, holding opponents to 30.1 percent in their last five games.

That didn't keep Atlanta from losing four of them before a 97-94 win over Miami on Saturday. Not only did the Hawks snap their losing streak, they picked up an additional victory, finishing the last 51.9 seconds of a disputed game against the Heat from December. Atlanta won 114-111 and jumped into the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"It's a great thing to get those wins," said Joe Johnson, who scored 28 of his 39 points in the regularly scheduled game during the first half. "That's all that matters."

That performance capped a great stretch of four games in five nights for Johnson, even if it wasn't so great for his team. He averaged 30.3 points in that span and matched his season high Saturday.

Johnson has been a big reason the Hawks have played well against Orlando lately. He's averaged 28.8 points in the last five meetings.

Josh Smith, who at 17.2 points per game is Atlanta's second-leading scorer behind Johnson (21.0), has averaged 22.7 points and 13.0 rebounds in his last three games against the Magic.

GO MAGIC!

atmacfan · 03-10-2008, 11:14 PM

what happened to all the magic fans?

anyway... congrats to hedo for his triple double, he's really been huge for the magic all year. Id say he's our team mvp up to this point. What howards doing is kinda expected.

hobojoe · 03-10-2008, 11:17 PM

I was there, saw a great performance from the Magic. Hedo played terrificly, so did Dwight, so did Shard, so did Jameer, so did Bogans and so did Arroyo. Almost every shot that went up I felt was going in. They moved the ball well as a team, played unselfishly, took good shots and executed the offense. Defense was pretty good except for giving their shooters some open looks, but don't be fooled by the final score, a lot of that came from good offense from the Hawks (Johnson in the first half, Bibby in the 3rd quarter, Stoudamire in a couple stretches).

hobojoe · 03-10-2008, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atmacfan

what happened to all the magic fans?

Nobody posts anymore, so the people who would post don't have anyone to talk to. I watch or attend almost every game, as excited about them as ever.

Blue Magic · 03-10-2008, 11:21 PM

yeah good game tonite, He was impressive once again

Babir · 03-11-2008, 12:39 AM

when we are not turning ball over, we are playing great...

TheATLien · 03-11-2008, 05:49 PM

I think the Hawks forum gets more traffic than this place.

Let me repeat..

The Hawks forum gets more traffic than this.

This is like Bizzaro World.

MickyEyez · 03-11-2008, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hobojoe

Nobody posts anymore, so the people who would post don't have anyone to talk to. I watch or attend almost every game, as excited about them as ever.

exactly... i almost don't see the point in making game threads for each game.

i too am watching every game and getting excited and the potential of our club, but this forum lacks the support like other forums around. hopefully we can start pumping this forum up now that we have a 40 win team that looks as though they will finish with homecourt advantage come postseason.

atmacfan · 03-11-2008, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MickyEyez

exactly... i almost don't see the point in making game threads for each game.

i too am watching every game and getting excited and the potential of our club, but this forum lacks the support like other forums around. hopefully we can start pumping this forum up now that we have a 40 win team that looks as though they will finish with homecourt advantage come postseason.

ok well im new here... and im pumped and will be around

MickyEyez · 03-12-2008, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atmacfan

ok well im new here... and im pumped and will be around

Blue Magic · 03-12-2008, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MickyEyez

Ive been around and Ill be around, but people were rarely on here during games so i just quit checking but ill try to come thru more often.....us Magic fans need to Re-unite, ya dig!

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