Hawks in Hole

The Atlanta Hawks flapped their wings early but it was the Orlando Magic who took flight in the second half of last night’s Eastern Conference Semifinal Game 2. Orlando pushed their winning streak to 12 with a 112-98 comeback win at Amway Arena. The Magic are the league’s only undefeated team this post-season and have a 2-0 edge in the series against Atlanta. The Hawks built an eight point lead in Game 2 after losing to Orlando by 43 points in the series opener. Atlanta never threatened the Magic over the last nine minutes of the game, however. The defending Eastern conference champions turned the deficit into a win as Atlanta’s offense stalled down the stretch. The Magic buried the birds 28-15 in the fourth quarter to cap off the comeback. Orlando’s Dwight Howard finished with 29 points and 17 rebounds. Four players scored at least twenty points for the Magic in Thursday’s win.
Howard was sent to the bench in early foul trouble after a commanding 19 point first quarter by the All-Star. Al Horford led the charge for the visiting Hawks with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Jamal Crawford was a bucket shy, with 23 points in the loss. It was a struggle for Atlanta at first as the Magic scored on nine of their first eleven possessions for a double digit advantage in the first. Horford collected 14 second quarter points on 5 of 6 shots. The Hawks made all ten free throw attempts in the second quarter to finish the half 15-of-15 from the charity stripe. They also took advantage of Howard’s absence by attacking the rim on a 15-3 second quarter run. Atlanta took a 57-49 lead into the intermission before the Magic put a stop to the Hawks’ run.
Orlando erased Atlanta’s nine point edge with an 11-2 run to begin the third quarter. Jameer Nelson banked a 3-pointer as time expired in the third to put the Magic ahead by one point. Nelson scored 20 points and dished out six assists in the valiant victory. The Magic firepower continued to stymie Atlanta’s porous defense. Vince Carter became the hero of the second half, and finished with 24 points on the night. Carter and Mickael Pietrus gave the home team a 98-87 lead with 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to deflate the Hawks. Crawford missed on four consecutive shots and the Hawks scoring lull put them in a grim fourth quarter hole. Joe Johnson finally found the basket to trim the Hawks’ deficit to 98-89 with just over seven minutes remaining. Johnson had 19 points, but the Hawks’ Southeast division rivals increased their lead to 19 points to put the game out of reach. Howard was red hot from the line and Carter was a blocking beast who found his shooting touch in time. The Magic shot 55.9% to the Hawks’ 41.3% from the field. Atlanta’s effort was much improved from Tuesday’s road embarrassment, but it’s going to take an extra force to overtake Orlando. Saturday’s Game 3 is at Phillips Arena in Atlanta.

Parting Points: The Habs tie the Pens and Franzen goes crazy against San Jose to give Detroit a win.