The Atlanta Hawks ....play as well as they can play....and for 3 quarters...it was good enough.
Then came that 4th quarter.....and....as much as the Atlanta fans hate to admit it.....
Orlando is the better team.
Thus.......Orlando 2....Hawks 0.
Everything you need to know from the Magic's 112-98 win over the Hawks in Game 2
 Vince Carter gets up for a reverse slam against the Hawks. (Stephen M. Dowell, Orlando Sentinel) |
The Orlando Magic defeated the Atlanta Hawks 112-98 in Game 3 of the teams' Eastern Conference semifinal series Thursday night at Amway Arena. Led by Dwight Howard's 29 points and 17 rebounds, both game highs, the Magic outscored the Hawks 63-41 in the second half.
The turning point
Orlando trailed 57-49 at the half, but the Magic surged in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Even with Howard going to the locker room for a stretch to have his bloody nose examined, the Magic started the second half with an 8-0 run to regain the lead.
"We just fell apart to start the third quarter to give them momentum to get back into the game, and then it was back and forth in that third quarter," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said.
The hero
Vince Carter started slowly, scoring only four points in the first half. But he stepped up his play markedly in the second half by scoring 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field.
"I was just trying to make plays," Carter said. "Just patience is the most important thing in my mind. In the first half, they were going to zone on my pick-and-rolls and just made me give it up. I didn't want to force anything, just go as far as possible, move the ball. And those guys started hitting shots, which inevitably opened up the lanes for me in the second half, and once I saw they were open, I just tried to take advantage it."
The goat
Hawks starting point guard Mike Bibby played only 13 minutes, 41 seconds and he often looked like a significant defensive liability against Jameer Nelson. Bibby finished with three points and one assist.
Stan said what?
"Well, they missed some shots and that helps. And, then again, I thought that Vince made great plays. But we were able to do a better job defensively and on the boards in the fourth quarter, and I think that was really the key." --Magic coach Stan Van Gundy on why the Magic outscored the Hawks 28-15 in the fourth quarter
Digits 2 Dig
0 After committing three personal fouls during the first half, Howard had no fouls in the third quarter.
21 Just under 21 minutes elapsed in the game before Carter made his first field goal. His basket -- an eight-foot running hook shot -- cut Atlanta's lead to 48-43 with 3:03 remaining in the second quarter.
96.8 The Hawks made 30 of their 31 free-throw attempts. That's a 96.8 percent success rate.
July 2004: GM Billy Knight hires Mike Woodson, a Pistons assistant, to coach the Hawks.
