Orlando Magic 105, Atlanta Hawks 75
by Evan Dunlap on May 8, 2010 11:44 PM EDT
in 2009/2010 Recaps
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PrintThe Orlando Magic once again presented the Atlanta Hawks far too many problems to solve, and ran away with Game 3, 105-75, to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their second-round playoff series. Rashard Lewis scored 22 points on 79.3% True Shooting, Dwight Howard added 21 with 16 boards and 3 assists, and the Magic made quick work of a sluggish Hawks squad that didn't seem too eager to defend its home floor. Sixth-Man award winner Jamal Crawford was an exception, scoring an efficient 22 points off the bench to try sparking the Hawks. But Orlando took control of the glass, finishing with a 51-34 rebound advantage, and made 8 of its first 20 three-point shots, which was too much for Atlanta to counter. Had franchise player Joe Johnson shown up, the game might've been interesting; Johnson missed 12 of his 15 shots and committed 2 turnovers en route to an 8-point outing, during which the fans at Philips Arena frequently booed him and his teammates. With Howard on the inside, Lewis on the outside, and the ball moving crisply and effectively around the floor, Orlando's offense ran smoothly. At the other end, the Hawks struggled to get good shots, and only seemed to score in transition or with second-chance points. They found it difficult to put points on the board in the halfcourt against the Magic's set defense. If all these details sound familiar, they should: they've been present for much of this playoff series, which is now almost completely devoid of drama.
| Team | Pace | Efficiency | eFG% | FT Rate | OReb% | TO Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic | 82 | 128.7 | 57.7% | 32.4 | 31.3 | 11.0 |
| Hawks | 84 | 89.4 | 37.3% | 15.6 | 22.6 | 9.5 |
| Green denotes a stat better than the team's regular-season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's regular-season average. | ||||||
The Magic were all business to start the game, really. Making the right reads, running to open spaces, and scoring with relative ease. And as early as their third possession, we got a great indication of how the game would play out. Lewis short-rimmed a three-pointer from the right wing, but the ball caromed directly to him about 18 feet from the rim. Johnson and Josh Smith converged to get the board, but backed off once Lewis snared it. Johnson then turned his attention to finding his man, while Smith took a step back and clapped his hands in frustration. Lewis took a few dribbles to the basket and laid it in. He's seen more aggressive defense in pregame layup lines, I can assure you. It struck me as odd that Smith would just concede the shot like that, even knowing Smith's reputation for taking plays off. It was emblematic of a problem that affected most of the Hawks players today, by my estimation: an utter lack of urgency or purpose. I Tweeted that Atlanta approached this game with all the intensity it'd bring for a January game against the Nets, and even that might have been charitable. Whereas the Magic patiently ran their offense on one end, the Hawks just forced the issue on the other. They didn't turn the ball over--they rarely do, ranking first in turnover rate this season--but just did not get good looks.
There are exceptions; not every Hawk dogged it. Crawford, for one, played his heart out, and I sort of felt sorry for him. He's making his 1st postseason appearance after 10 years in the league, and he frankly deserves better than this. Al Horford battled at both ends, and though he wasn't exceptionally effective, you can't knock his effort. The same can be said for his backup, Zaza Pachulia. But the other Hawks? Just average, I would say, with Smith and Johnson, whom many observers regard as their two best players, clocking out early.
The Magic held a 10-point lead after the first period, and though they looked far sharper than Atlanta, I felt that the Hawks stood a good chance of making a run in the second period, as the Magic's second unit has lacked luster this postseason. I was wrong, though. Marcin Gortat, J.J. Redick, and Mickael Pietrus joined starters Lewis and Jameer Nelson, and Orlando didn't miss many beats. That continued to be the story. Redick played well enough, and the lead was sufficiently large enough, that Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy let him play a majority of the shooting guard minutes. Vince Carter, the Magic's hero in Game 2, scored 7 points in 23 minutes, and spent the rest of his time on the bench, laughing and smiling the whole way.
Lewis continues to play quite well. A deadly spot-up shooter throughout his Orlando tenure, he's had ample opportunities to showcase his full repertoire in this series, harkening back to his days as a back-to-the-basket small forward as a Seattle SuperSonic. In these conference semifinals, he's scoring 17 a game on 67.7% True Shooting. He's 11-of-16 from inside the arc, which isn't even the best mark on the team; Howard's 22-of-27.
Which brings me to my next point. To beat the Magic, an opponent has to take away either Howard or their array of three-point shooters, such as Lewis. The Hawks have consistently failed to take away either in this series. Howard's scoring against single- and double-coverage, or at least getting to the foul line. And the Hawks haven't done much to discourage the sort of quick, effective ball movement that so often leads to open shots on the perimeter. Commentators often invoke the "pick your poison" axiom when referring to the challenge of stopping Orlando's offense. It's as though someone told Hawks coach Mike Woodson he had to drink either battery acid or antifreeze, and he elected to sample both.
Orlando can close out the series, and make it two consecutive sweeps to start these playoffs, on Monday.
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So is this what it felt like being a Pistons fan when the Magic played them the last 5 years?
I wish this was more of a series than it is though. It’s making me very nervous that we have basically emulated the Cavaliers from last year with these 2 rounds of domination, but the 3rd round wasn’t too kind to them and I’m worried history might repeat itself but with the Magic losing instead.
Even though the Hippopotamus lacks a stinger for a tail, a truly wise man would rather be sat on by a bee. ~ Banacek
Nothing to worry about.
Stan won’t let that happen. Some people were wondering if the Magic would come out rusty after their long rest after they swept the Bobcats, and that did not happen. This is when a coach like SVG works perfectly, he will keep the players in check and focused, cause it’s true: they haven’t accomplised a thing yet.
Magic Fan since the 1992-1993 Season.
by North of the South on May 9, 2010 1:35 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm really shocked at how
bad the Hawks have played. Mike Woodson is getting worked over as a coach. I mean, try a different lineup or a different offense. I feel like having Zaza play with Horford more would be more beneficial.
But, why should I care? The Magic are definitely showing why they are the better team.
"It's all part of the plan." Jeff Moorad and The Joker in the Dark Knight.
"Just because you went to the Finals last year, you can’t go out on the floor and expect teams to lay down. We got no heart. You can only make so many excuses. Everybody has to come and play hard, not just one or two guys."-Matt Barnes
This Magic team is the most focused I've ever seen in franchise history.
If things go according to plan and it’s a Cavs/Magic Eastern Conference Finals, that should be one for the books. Both teams will bring their A-games to that one.
As for the Hawks, it really is disappointing that they couldn’t make this competitive. I’m not saying I ever wish for the Magic to lose, but it’s sad to see a team play like Atlanta is now. At one point Doris Burke was saying that the Magic have faced little resistance in the playoffs from Charlotte or Atlanta. But even though we swept the Charlotte series, there was nothing easy about it. The Bobcats played with heart and intensity all 4 games. The Hawks have done so for barely a few quarters in this series.
The intensity has to go up, up! Not down...UP! -Stan Van Gundy
Look at all that lovely green
Second straight game of all green. At what point does Woody say “this isn’t working”? 3 games in and they’re losing by an average of 29 points per game.
Jamal Crawford has been their best player this series. Why not change the lineup to:
PG – Crawford
SG – Johnson
SF – Josh Smith
PF – Horford
C – Zaza
I don’t know that it will change anything but it would probably make the game(s) more competitive and it would at last give them 2 good post options in Horford vs Rashard & Smith vs Barnes as opposed to their current lineup where they have 0 matchup advantages.
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
I agree
I have no clue why they don’t employ a matchup strategy, on paper they have several matchup issues they can pose. Hortford should be able to abuse Lewis, and at least Crawford would make Nelson work on the offensive end. I really don’t see any positives from the lineup against teams like the Magic (inside game / dominant post player).
Yay for the win!
I missed it unfortunately! Damn work! But, I’m glad that we owned them, yet again!
I'm a girl too.
Haters gonna hate.
The only negative so far in this series
has been Dwight’s FG%. I’d expect a little more from the league leader in FG%.
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this
Missing 18.5% of your shot is just not acceptable.
Even though the Hippopotamus lacks a stinger for a tail, a truly wise man would rather be sat on by a bee. ~ Banacek
BLAME PAT CHEWING FOR THIS!!!!!!!!
lol
Q: Jj redick, what does it mean that u lead the team in scoring in the 4th quarter? JJ's answer: "we blow out a lot of teams"
Some critics seem to think that we are winning due to "inferior competition"
Bobcats had the best defence in the league and at the 7th seed are no worse than the Bulls. The Hawks had 53 wins and were tied for 6th in the NBA for best records. I dont hear anyone saying the Cavs had an easy outing despite playing a Bulls team that made the playoffs on the last day of the season and Celtics which the Hawks swept and had a better record than them.
Me Against The World And I'm Winning
It's laughable to compare our run right now to Cleveland's run from last year.
The Pistons were a horrible team who had no business being in the playoffs, and Atlanta was wrecked by injuries. We have played two teams at full strength, one of which just cannot match up with us, and the other team was the best defensive team in the league. We are on the verge of sweeping both of them. We are annhilating good teams, while Cleveland last year was beating teams of much less caliber than we are this year.
Even if we had to face the Celtics and we were sweeping them
They would say “Well, the Celtics are old and this has been an easy road.” No matter who we play or what we do, it’s never going to be enough, until we win it all. No respect til the bitter end.
I'm a girl too.
Haters gonna hate.
Charlotte also vastly improved
Late in the season as they made a lot of trades and had to adjust once they got Jackson.
We're winning because we're better than the teams we're beating, yes.
As long as we keep being better than the other team, I like our chances.
Jameer Nelson is Jimmy Olsen.
"He's gotta step up"... Exactly
I wonder if Dwight knew that the guy doing the post game interview (Ric Bucher) was the guy who had him 5th on the MVP list “Just ahead of Steve Nash because Dwight does as much for his team defensively as Nash does offensively but Dwight Howard is better on offense than Nash is on defense”. It’s pretty close though, Nash made those All Defensive Teams for a reason.
Halftime interview he asked Jameer something about the Magic playing well on the road and ‘Meer was like "We’ve been doing it all season, where you been"? Then he glanced down at the mic and saw the ESPN logo, he had his answer…
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
Bucher was talking the other day about who the most important big man left in the playoffs was
he was arguing for tim duncan over dwight and pau gasol.
credibility: denied.
Their was one analyst, I can't remember which
That said Duncan and Gasol were the best big men left in the playoffs and Dwight wasn’t even in the conversation. I believe it was one of the espn guys though. I had to turn it off immediately, I couldn’t believe my ears. Even in the first series when Dwight was in constant foul trouble he dominated when he was in the game. Just couldn’t get going offensively with all the misfortune. How unfortunate we can’t have more qualified experts on the network that is supposed to be the expert on sports.
It was Bucher on Bill Simmons' podcast.
Yeah, I lost respect right there. Dude had one bad series due to foul trouble (partly his own doing, partly BS) and he suddenly isn’t “even in the coversation” with Gasol and Duncan as the best big man in the playoffs? Okay.
I hate Varejao.
Here's his ballot
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=MVP10-Bucher
He has Kobe 2nd behind LeBron but he makes sure to add that he would still Kobe the best “Basketball” player in the NBA but physically he’s not the most dominant force and he wasn’t on the winningest team.
But 3rd best record and a top 3 Power Forward on the team surely warrant the 2nd place vote. If the Lakers had the better record, regardless of stats I think he would have put Kobe at the top.
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
I'm getting tired of the comments..
that we still haven’t face a real playoff team.. to consider that during the season Atlanta Killed the C’s.. and finished above them in the standings..
we don't light the stars, we simply fade with them..
The Bobcats were 3-1 vs. the Cavs and were a top defensive team in the league.
Magic Fan since the 1992-1993 Season.
by North of the South on May 9, 2010 1:35 AM EDT up reply actions
The problem is it's a matchup league.
While the Hawks can matchup with the Celtics and the Bobcats with the Cavs it is no question that Boston is clearly a tougher matchup for both Cleveland and us.
"I'm not saying this is a blowout, but updated NBA schedule has ' * - if necessary' next to Games 3 and 4." John Hollinger
His eye for the game of basketball is on par with his hair style
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
It's funny how everyone was praising the Hawks all year, saying that they deserved more players in the All-Star game.
They were an elite team.
Come the playoffs, now they are a D-League team all of a sudden.
If they were playing the Cavs it would be something like this: “Oh my God! Look at Cleveland! They are dominating a Hawks team that was the 3rd best in the East with 53 wins! The Hawks that swept the Celts in the regular season! LeBron is unstoppable! Cavs are 3-0, winning in Atlanta where the Hawks had one of the best home records in the league! And they won by 30 points! Cavaliers are the best team of all time! Long live the King!”
Since it’s the Magic beating the Hawks: “Meh, it’s only the Hawks. They never show up in the playoffs. Orlando has yet to face a real playoff team. Let’s talk about Cleveland dominating Boston instead!”
Magic Fan since the 1992-1993 Season.
by North of the South on May 9, 2010 1:44 AM EDT reply actions
Exactly
All season it was its time we start considering the East to have a “big four” and for the week or two where the Hawks were atop of the power rankings everyone were saying they are now amongst the elite.
Me Against The World And I'm Winning
"It's as though someone told Hawks coach Mike Woodson he had to drink either battery acid or antifreeze, and he elected to sample both."
Line of the year, Ben.
Don’t really have much else to say. There is nothing new to be taken from this game. It played out like it has all series. Shouldn’t expect any different from Game 4. This team is on a roll.
FEAR THE MEER!
That's what I was about to comment on
Great line :D
Lewis played great, great basketball this game.
whatever PED's Rashard took last year in the playoffs, cant compare to what he's on now ( i kid, i kid)
I’m down in Peru for 2 weeks and had to watch the game at a sports bar. Picture 13 TV’s and 12 of them are showing some soccer game with people going nuts. The 13th is showing the magic game in the corner with me being the only one watching and yelling at the tv.
good times
Never trust a fart
by AB's triple double on May 9, 2010 3:21 AM EDT reply actions
Been there
I watched game 2 of the Finals last year in a relatvely uncrowded sports bar… my brother and I were the only Magic fans in the place and I was sitting right behind this group of people from LA. Needless to say we were cheering pretty obnoxiously. Sadly, the LA fans got the last laugh.
This year will be different
Go Titans! Go Magic!
"I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, and wear Reebok." - Shaq
Just want to point out that on ESPN's NBA homepage right now
The main headline is, of course, “Lakers Take 3-0 Lead.” The second headline, though, isn’t “Magic Dominate the Hawks” or “Magic Roll to 3-0 Series Lead”… it’s “Hawks Lose Again”
I know it’s minor, but it does kinda bother me that Orlando STILL isn’t getting all the credit for these wins. According to ESPN, we didn’t win tonight, the Hawks just lost.
Go Titans! Go Magic!
"I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, and wear Reebok." - Shaq
Everyone on the planet knows that ESPN is crap.
I agree with you but I think it’s about time we let that media thing work out on its own.
Time to get that finger bling-bling
Don't mind my spelling. I'm a Typo Master.
Dammit
Forgot this was an earlier tip and slept through it. In my defense, getting up at 5:30am on a Sunday morning to watch basketball was pretty unlikely anyway.
The five Atlanta starters
…combined for 47 points on 20 of 59 shooting (33.9%), including 1 of 8 on threes (12.5%).
The Magic starting five combined for 75 points on 25 of 44 shooting (56.8%), including 6 of 15 on threes (40%).
"2010 Orlando Magic Playoff Basketball... Enjoy the Ride."
"Chicago Blackhawks... One Goal... the Stanley Cup"
by Mike from Illinois on May 9, 2010 5:22 AM EDT reply actions
By the way
Anyone catch up with Stan’s response on “peaking too early”?
That’s a must see.
What was it?
Go Titans! Go Magic!
"I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, and wear Reebok." - Shaq
It was somewhere along the lines of "What do you want us to do? Lose a few games?"
Brilliant retort. I know this is going to get compared to the Cavs run last year, but this year’s Bobcats would’ve swept last year’s Pistons.
I bet some Hawks players have nightmares about Dwight.
Even if he only had one block yesterday, they airballed some lay ups just because he was standing there. I feel kind of sorry for Hawks fans but this team deserves to be sweeped. Crawford looked beaten up in his ITW, I hope he got on some people face in the locker room. Once again I like everything about the Magic’s attitude right now. Energy is there, focus is there and
zero arrogance. GO MAGIC !
Time to get that finger bling-bling
Don't mind my spelling. I'm a Typo Master.
If I were the Hawks I wouldn't double team Dwight
I’d let him play one on one and stay on the Magic shooters.
No Hawk can play Dwight one on one. And the shooters space the floor too well.
I think the Bobcats series showed that you need to defend full court and trap a lot but not many teams can do that well.
Time to get that finger bling-bling
Don't mind my spelling. I'm a Typo Master.
I don't think so
I think the only ones that should have nightmares about him don’t care enough about winning to dwell on it. Joe Johnson’s quote about he doesn’t care if the fans even show up at games was unbelievable. I can’t understand how talking about the refs is instant fine, but a player can flat out say eff the fans and get away with it. Those fans that paid the last five years of his very affluent lifestyle no less. What a POS.
They are no match for Orlando
Go Magic/Bucs/Gators/Rays!
by chiefs_55 on May 9, 2010 9:42 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Ben, it's funny
You almost never watch this team, and you can point out quickly the same things that we’re seeing at Peachtree Hoops, and which apparently nobody on the Hawks’ roster is noticing.
Those same 3 Hawks players (Jamal, Horford, Zaza) that you mentioned are the exact same I mentioned as the only three who will give 48 minutes worth of effort during the in-game comments. I’m just a bit envious that you guys have a team doesn’t get overconfident with a 30 point lead, where our team will mentally disengage during the first quarter of a playoff home game.
Josh Smith drew a lot of criticism for his effort during game 2-you guys certainly heard Hubie calling him out for all the times he casually walked up the court in a playoff game-and Woodson defended him and his effort. Josh Smith responded with a showing in game 3 that was….just slightly better, but it took him less than two minutes to show us he had no intentions of leaving it all on the floor.
The difference in talent between these two rosters is very small, but the Magic are a much, much better team because they’re 5 guys, working together, on both sides of the ball. The Hawks look like 5 guys randomly thrown together from the Y.
Magic have been through their chemistry issues...
…between the injuries early in the season, and then the team (Carter in particular) spent January or so trying to get on the same page.
But seriously, ever since the All-Star Break, it’s all been seamless. Everyone knows his role, everyone’s able to step up when he’s got the right match-up, and everyone’s okay with stepping into the background when it’s someone else.
And so much of that is Stan… Jameer’s leadership is crucial, Dwight’s role as an organizer of the defense, etc. But I really believe the Magic are, game to game, the most prepared team in the NBA. They know everything their opponents are going to throw at them, and they know how to counter it. (Which is why I think ending series before their opponents is such a huge advantage for them…) And on offense, they have so many options, they can come at the opponent from so many angles… the complexity of their offense has increased drastically since last year, and at this point, everyone knows how to work with it.
Jameer Nelson is Jimmy Olsen.
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