# Orlando Magic vs. Atlanta Hawks Game Thread



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

The only NBA game NOT on national television today... 

Tony Delk and the Atlanta Hawks attempt to end their lengthy road losing streak Thursday when they visit the slumping Orlando Magic. 

Atlanta has lost 12 straight away from Philips Arena - tied for the fourth longest road losing streak in franchise history and just one shy of the 13-game slide in 2002-03. 

The Hawks split a pair of home games against the Magic this season, including an 80-79 victory on January 31. Delk scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and Antoine Walker added 12 and 12 rebounds in the win. Orlando guard Steve Francis scored 24 and All-Star Grant Hill added 19 before missing a potential winning shot at the buzzer for the Magic. 

Delk is averaging 18.5 points and shooting 54 percent from the floor against Orlando this season, while Francis is leading the Magic with 26.5 points in those two contests. 

On Monday, Walker scored 26 points and Delk added 25 as the Hawks ended a three-game skid with a 114-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Starting in place of injured forward Al Harrington, rookie Josh Childress totaled 19 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. 

Despite a 28-point performance by Hill, the Magic dropped their third straight game Tuesday - a 113-109 loss against the Golden State Warriors. 

Francis scored 21 points before fouling out for the second time in three games and rookie Jameer Nelson added 16 off the bench. 

LINK


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Looks like Harrington and Drobnak are out tonight. Those two guys killed us last time. Lue is out too I think.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Magic start out fast running the break to perfection. Howard's been very active so far, and the Magic are up 7 early. Should be an easy win for the Magic.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Dwight probably wishes we played Atlanta all the time. Averaging 20-10 against Atlanta.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Holy Dunk by Howard.

He's already got like 6 rebs in the first quarter.

Looks like tonight will be some early rest for the starters.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

:laugh: 

Magic miss about 6 shots on the possession before Howard finally dunks it home to give the Magic a 23-8 lead. 

6 points and 7 boards already for Howard, the first quarter isn't even over yet.


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## Captain Obvious (Jun 15, 2003)

Gotta love the enthusiasm that Dwight has. I hope that doesn't wear off too much as he gets older.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists for Francis.
6 points, 8 rebounds for Howard.
6 points for Hill, 4 each from Christie and Cato. 

Result? Magic up 31-15 after one. Something tells me they feel just a little sense of ergency after losing to the Warriors at home as well as having lost to these same Hawks a couple weeks ago.


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## X-Factor (Aug 24, 2004)

Awesome start to the game, a little slow out of the blocks in the second quarter. They need to obliterate the Hawks.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Huge 2nd quarter for Turkoglu. 12 points for Hedo to keep the Magic's lead in double digits. Magic have been a little sloppy this quarter, but are still up 11 at the moment.


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## Captain Obvious (Jun 15, 2003)

HEDO with the poster dunk!

LMAO :laugh: :laugh:


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

20 points in a quarter by Turkoglu!


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Captain Obvious</b>!
> HEDO with the poster dunk!
> 
> LMAO :laugh: :laugh:


I think Hedo has got his first ever poster. That was nasty.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> 
> 
> I think Hedo has got his first ever poster. That was nasty.


He posterized someone earlier this year in that game they lost against Charlotte.


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Zone defense is meant to be busted by guys like Hedo who can shoot the ball very well. I'm not sure why Atlanta stayed in the zone for so long in the 2nd quarter, but they got burnt by it.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>KokoTheMonkey</b>!
> Zone defense is meant to be busted by guys like Hedo who can shoot the ball very well. I'm not sure why Atlanta stayed in the zone for so long in the 2nd quarter, but they got burnt by it.


Quite simply, Atlanta isn't too smart. Sure their zone defense looked great for 3 or 4 possessions, but the minute Orlando made adjustments to try and bust it (basically set up Turkoglu) they tore it apart.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

There was DeShawn Stevenson sighting in the first half!  

Just to show how much deeper the Magic are this season as opposed to last (and how far in the dog house Stevenson is), DeShawn started 24 of the 26 games he was on the Magic last season and played 36 mpg. This year, he has DNP -- Coach's Decison in 22 games already, and that's including getting to start 10 games due to injuries.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

First half boxscore


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Dwight Howard grabs his 11th board already (6 offensive) and scores his 8th point and will be on the line for one more.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Dwight has been great tonight ... aside from the airball jumper. :laugh:


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Somebody needs to teach Francis to shoot open jumpers. So many times he receives a pass with maybe 5 or 6 seconds left on the clock outside, wide open, and instead of just shooting it in rhythm he just holds the ball and makes the shot tougher on himself.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Geezus, Dwight has 15 boards with almost 18 mins of gameplay left.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Dwight might have a shot at a 20-20 game tonight, as long as Orlando's lead doesn't get too big or Johnny Davis pulls a "Johnny Davis" and sits Howard the entire fourth quarter.

So when is Orlando going to give up on Garrity? He played a handful of mins in the first half and did nothing. He has been completely useless this year. He's had 3 good games and the year is half over. Get rid of him while we still can.

I'd take a decent 2nd round pick.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Orlando starting to blow it. Great.


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## YoYoYoWasup (Nov 14, 2004)

I could understand blowing the lead against a halfway decent team but the freakin' Hawks? Good lord.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>YoYoYoWasup</b>!
> I could understand blowing the lead against a halfway decent team but the freakin' Hawks? Good lord.


Atlanta went on a 14-4 run when Francis left the game with his 4th foul.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Dwight with his 2nd 20 rebound game as a rookie. Only 60 behind Wilt Chamberlain's rookie record.


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## Captain Obvious (Jun 15, 2003)

Another 20 board game for Howard. What a player this kid's going to be.


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## YoYoYoWasup (Nov 14, 2004)

Howard might be taken out now, he's played a TON of minutes tonight. Wouldn't that be something, both his 20 rebound games if he ends up with 15 and 20? :laugh:


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

A lot of people down on Childress, but I think he is gonna be a solid starting SG.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Pretty sad how close the Magic have let the Hawks get.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Magic win 101-96.

Boxscore


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## YoYoYoWasup (Nov 14, 2004)

Howard with 15 and 20 and he could of had a MUCH better game had the Magic actually passed him the ball. Disgusting.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

We tried real hard to lose, but just couldn't pull it off.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> We tried real hard to lose, but just couldn't pull it off.


Kinda funny that Francis and Hill combined to shoot 11 of 37 from the floor, and nobody on the team shot 50% or better besides Christie (5-8) and Cato (2-3). As a team Orlando shot 37.6% from the floor and 33.3% from behind the arc while Atlanta shot 43.0% and 44.4% respectively. The Magic won the game on the boards, outrebounding Atlanta 57 to 42 including 21 offensive rebounds (11 by Howard).


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>hobojoe</b>!
> 
> 
> Kinda funny that Francis and Hill combined to shoot 11 of 37 from the floor, and nobody on the team shot 50% or better besides Christie (5-8) and Cato (2-3). As a team Orlando shot 37.6% from the floor and 33.3% from behind the arc while Atlanta shot 43.0% and 44.4% respectively. The Magic won the game on the boards, outrebounding Atlanta 57 to 42 including 21 offensive rebounds (11 by Howard).


That is surprising. Didn't seem like Orlando shot that bad. I guess that would be a big reason why things were closer than they should have been.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Hedo - 20 pts in the 2nd quarter - finished with 24. How does that happen?


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## efes pilsen (Feb 9, 2005)

hi guys. i watched the most of the game except 3rd quarter and as far as i'm concerned we were lucky to win this one. we should have won a lot easier but our inability of putting teams away showed big time tonight. so far this season i don't think we had a blow out game. i believe the reason is our defense being the worst defense in the league especially in guard spots. as much as we all like steve francis he is one of the most horrific defender i've ever seen. when you look at last couple games or the whole season whom ever francis defense had a good or career nite. and tonite diaw had in the 4th couple easy lay ups. and of course JD had to put stevenson- another player who wasn't introduced to play defense- on the floor. so that's why we came up with a barely 5 point win agaist one of the worst team in the league.


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## magicfan187 (Jun 28, 2003)

i thought stevenson did a good job on defense out there


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>magicfan187</b>!
> i thought stevenson did a good job on defense out there


I was very pleasantly surprised with Stevenson's play overall out there. He played very hard on defense, didn't chuck up stupid shots on offense and overall just did what he was supposed to do. Glad to see him at least making an effort to get out of Davis' doghouse.


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