Orlando Pinstriped Post - Magic vs. Hawks: Atlanta makes first trip to OrlandoAn Orlando Magic blog with news, rumors, analysis, and commentaryhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/21281/orlando-fave.jpg2013-12-29T22:55:15-05:00http://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/rss/stream/50179472013-12-29T22:55:15-05:002013-12-29T22:55:15-05:00Notebook: Magic come up big in transition
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<img alt="Tobias Harris" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9px9m-W-WJifojuwPkpSCnLHoaY=/0x0:4000x2667/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/25936077/20131229_pjc_mb2_730.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Tobias Harris | David Manning-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Orlando played aggressively on fast breaks Sunday, keying its win over the visiting Hawks.</p> <p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/">Orlando Magic</a> continued their impressive play of late Sunday against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.peachtreehoops.com/">Atlanta Hawks</a>, picking up a 109-102 victory for their second straight win at Amway Center. <span>Arron Afflalo</span> scored 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting with seven assists, while <span>Victor Oladipo</span> scored 15 off the bench to go with eight assists and two steals.</p>
<p>"Good to see us getting out in transition," coach <span>Jacque Vaughn</span> said after the game, "but it all started with us sharing the basketball and playing defense."</p>
<p>Orlando set a season-high with 30 assists on Sunday, so playing unselfishly indeed factored into its win.</p>
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<strong>More</strong>: <a href="http://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2013/12/29/5253906/atlanta-hawks-orlando-magic-2013-nba-schedule-preview" target="new">Full Magic/Hawks coverage</a> <a href="http://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2013/12/29/5254612/orlando-magic-atlanta-hawks-final-score-arron-afflalo-jeff-teague" target="new">Game recap</a>
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<p>Here's a look at the stories that developed Sunday.</p>
<h4>Magic continue to push pace</h4>
<p>For the second consecutive game, the Magic looked to push the ball off turnovers and missed opponent shots, hoping to generate easy buckets in transition. And for the second straight game, it worked to great effect: Orlando scored 22 fast-break points on Sunday, shooting 9-of-9 from the field in those situations.</p>
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"That's what you want: you want to be able to dictate what goes on."
<span>Jacque Vaughn on the impact of running in transition</span>
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<p>"It's very important," Vaughn said of his team's willingness to push the tempo. "I think it puts the opposing team on their heels. That's what you want: you want to be able to dictate what goes on."</p>
<p>Afflalo echoed his coach's sentiments.</p>
<p>"When we are in a good defensive rhythm, and we're getting stops and getting rebounds, we gotta push that ball down the court and get easy baskets," Afflalo said. He added that the Magic too often let their poor defense affect their offense by leading to bad shots in half-court sets, further underlining the need to run at every opportunity.</p>
<h4>Building good habits</h4>
<p>Afflalo seemed to indicate the Magic might be turning a corner with their last two victories. </p>
<p>"[In losses], it always feels like we're <em>right there</em>, and then something happens and we end up losing. It's like our margin for error is just so small," said Afflalo. "Anytime we made a breakdown or had a team go on a run against us, it's like the game out of hand. With that in mind, it's not like we're getting beat handily. We were always in games."</p>
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<p>The veteran swingman has a point: though Orlando entered Sunday's win with a 9-20 record, it had the point differential of an 11-18 team; Orlando had played better than its record would indicate. Now, said Afflalo, the Magic must continue to build good habits which could mean the difference between victory and defeat. He specifically pointed toward toughening up mentally and continuing to share the ball.</p>
<p>Point guard <span>Jameer Nelson</span>, who finished the game with 10 points and a team-high-tying eight assists, agreed with his teammate in the starting backcourt.</p>
<p>"It's a process to learn how to win," Nelson said. "You don't just put a team out there and you won't win. You have to learn the course and stay the course when things get tough for you and you have those bad nights offensively. You have to rely on your energy and your defense. Lately we're shooting the ball well and our defense has been there for us, for the most part, in those games."</p>
<h4>Harris ends slump</h4>
<p>Starting small forward <span>Tobias Harris</span> entered Sunday's game shooting 3-of-23 from three-point range, a worrisomely low 13 percent. He came up in a big way against Atlanta, doubling his season trey output by going 3-of-6 from long range in the Magic's win. His final three, which shot he made at the 9:13 mark of the fourth, put Orlando ahead by four points as the Hawks had rallied back.</p>
<p>"It's just gonna come with time and patience," Harris said of his heretofore wayward three-point stroke. "[In the] first half, it wasn't really falling, and I just had my mind set that I was gonna make the next shots that I take, so that's good confidence for me going forward. The shots are gonna fall. It's gonna come."</p>
<p>That confidence paid off: after going 3-of-9 in the first half for seven points, Harris recovered in the second by shooting 4-of-6 for 10 points.</p>
<p>The former Volunteer is indeed showing signs of returning to form after missing 21 of the Magic's first 22 games due to a high-ankle sprain: in the Magic's five-game homestand to date, Harris has averaged 16.4 points on 55.1 percent True Shooting.</p>
<h4>Korver keeps it 100</h4>
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<a href="http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2013/11/7/5077480/kyle-korver-three-point-streak-tracker-atlanta-hawks">
<h2>Kyle Korver three-point streak tracker</h2>
<img src="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/24669605/454023981.0_standard_400.0.jpg"></a>
<span>Peachtree Hoops, SB Nation's Hawks blog, keeps an eye on Kyle Korver's record-setting three-point streak.</span>
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<p>With his three-pointer at the 9:52 mark of the second quarter, Hawks swingman <span>Kyle Korver</span> extended to 100 games his NBA-record streak of consecutive games with a trey.</p>
<p>Though Atlanta hit 15 treys on the night, Korver accounted for just two of them, and only the first one came against Orlando's set defense; he hit his second triple on an offensive rebound, with the Magic still scrambling to find him.</p>
<p>The Magic have defended Korver well in the 2013/14 season: he's averaging just 8.3 points per game in three games against Orlando, shooting 5-of-15 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc.</p>
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https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2013/12/29/5255312/atlanta-hawks-orlando-magic-2013-arron-afflalo-transition-offenseEvan Dunlap2013-12-29T20:22:40-05:002013-12-29T20:22:40-05:00Magic top trey-happy Hawks, 109-102
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<img alt="Jameer Nelson, Louis Williams, and Glen Davis" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JdMTkGeSLJxxQ7mt7meUvu_KJBU=/41x11:1072x698/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/25929999/20131229nelsondavisscreen_davidmanningusat.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Jameer Nelson, Louis Williams, and Glen Davis | David Manning - USA Today Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Magic picked up their second straight win Sunday despite yielding 14 threes to the Hawks.</p> <p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/">Orlando Magic</a> earned their second consecutive win on Sunday, powering past the hot-shooting <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.peachtreehoops.com/">Atlanta Hawks</a> by a 109-102 final with some timely late shooting of their own: Orlando shot 4-of-7 on threes in the fourth quarter, holding off the Hawks' rally.</p>
<p><span>Arron Afflalo</span> scored 20 points to lead seven Magic players in double-figures, and <span>Nik Vučević</span> scored 16 points and hauled in 14 rebounds for his 16th double-double of the season.</p>
<p><span>Jeff Teague</span> led the Hawks with 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Atlanta stayed in the game despite a poor overall field-goal percentage thanks to its 15-of-39 (38.5 percent) mark on three-pointers.</p>
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<p>To no one's surprise, the Magic opened the game trying to exploit Afflalo's size advantage over <span>Louis Williams</span> on the low post. The Hawks countered by sending help defenders at Afflalo on each of his post touches, and the Magic couldn't reverse the ball quickly enough to find the seam in Atlanta's defense. The Magic then relied more heavily on pick-and-roll action to generate shot attempts, and that approach paid dividends: they shot 55 percent in the first period, with <span>Glen Davis</span> and Vučević scored seven and six, respectively, against the Hawks' undersized front line.</p>
<p>Atlanta opened the game shooting 31.8 percent in the first period, and as Orlando packed the paint, it struggled to create open shots near the rim. Nonetheless, the Hawks trailed by only a 26-20 margin after the period because they drilled four three-pointers, with Teague going 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.</p>
<p><span>Maurice Harkless</span> opened the second period at small forward to Orlando and gave his team his finest stint of the season. He scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in that stretch, reaching double-figures in scoring for the first time since Orlando's loss to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bulletsforever.com/">Washington Wizards</a> on December 2nd. His ability to fill the lane in transition off Magic stops created easy opportunities, but he also scored with an alley-oop layup off an out-of-timeout play and on an open triple in a halfcourt set.</p>
<p>But Atlanta continued to hang around thanks to the long ball: it drained five more threes in the second quarter and trailed by just seven points at halftime. The Magic protected the paint--the Hawks went just 3-of-11 inside in the first half--but couldn't keep Atlanta from pinging the ball around the perimeter to create open treys. </p>
<p>A Vučević tip-in gave Orlando a 12-point lead--tying its largest of the night to date--with 2:04 to play in the half, but the Hawks cut their deficit in half by draining three threes the rest of the way. That Atlanta hung around despite <span>Paul Millsap</span>, arguably its best healthy player, missing all five of his first-half shots attests to its depth as well as the potency of its outside shooting.</p>
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<p>Atlanta cut the Magic's lead to just three points by scoring the first four of the third quarter. Orlando ultimately tightened up and pushed its lead to 11 points on two occasions, the second off an impossible Vučević fadeaway in the paint. But the Hawks fought their way back, with a key sequence at the end of the period changing the tenor of the game.</p>
<p>With the shot- and game-clocks winding down, <span>Victor Oladipo</span> drove to his left and abnked in a layup off the glass as he collided with Hawks point guard <span>Shelvin Mack</span> word. The Amway Center crowd cheered the play as the referees signaled for a foul, but that celebration was for naught: the call was charging on Oladipo, setting up Mack for a three-point heave as the quarter ended, bringing Atlanta to within three points. Pending the potential Oladipo and-one, that call--the correct one, it appeared to be from the media loge--swung six points in the game. </p>
<p>The Magic missed their first three shots of the fourth period, allowing Atlanta to take a one-point lead on a <span>Dennis Schröder</span> foul shot with 10:20 to go. The lead was the Hawks' first since they scored the game's first three points on a Teague triple.</p>
<p>Mack drove past the entire Magic defense with 6:55 to go for an uncontested layup in a half-court set, but Orlando responded well even without coach <span>Jacque Vaughn</span> calling for a timeout. <span>Jameer Nelson</span> answered with a reverse layup to put Orlando back in the lead, and the Magic forced live-ball turnovers on Atlanta's next two trips, scoring off each. On the first turnover, Vučević picked up his third steal of the night by poking the ball away from Williams on a drive. Afflalo advanced it to Oladipo, who beat <span>Pero Antić</span> to the rim with ease for a powerful two-handed slam. On the second, Davis recovered a Mack fumble, and Oladipo ultimately pitched the ball back to Nelson for a wide-open trey trailing the break. Nelson's second triple of the night put Orando up by six.</p>
<p>Millsap hit his first three of the night at the 3:50 mark to bring Atlanta within five, but <span>Tobias Harris</span> answered with a driving dunk over him. After a Hawks timeout, Afflalo drilled a three to put Orlando up 10 with 2:51 to go. Less than a minute later, Olaidpo hit a three to effectively ice the game for the Magic, putting the hosts up by 10 with 2:02 to play.</p>
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https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2013/12/29/5254612/orlando-magic-atlanta-hawks-final-score-arron-afflalo-jeff-teagueEvan Dunlap2013-12-29T16:00:03-05:002013-12-29T16:00:03-05:00Magic vs. Hawks GameThread
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<img alt="Kyle Korver" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fzcWHVXWJj4DCagnQ8ijR-1XJcM=/4x0:3997x2662/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/25909411/20131228_kdl_al3_016.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Kyle Korver | Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Orlando's homestand nears its conclusion Sunday.</p> <p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/">Orlando Magic</a> host the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.peachtreehoops.com/">Atlanta Hawks</a> on Sunday in Atlanta's first trip to Amway Center in the 2013/14 season.</p>
<p>Game time is 6:00 PM on Fox Sports Florida and ESPN 580 AM.</p>
<p>Register all your pre- and in-game comments in this GameThread. </p>
<p><strong>Do not <u>ask for</u>, <u>mention</u>, or <u>link to</u> any sites or services that provide video streams for this game</strong>. Doing so will result in a disciplinary action.</p>
<table class="sbnu-legacy-content-table" cellspacing="5" border="1" align="center" cellpadding="5"><tbody> <tr> <th align="center" bgcolor="silver" colspan="3">2013/2014 NBA Season</th> </tr> <tr> <td width="240"><center><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v73/incurock31/3QC/Logos%20non-gifs/ATL__zps2fda9096.jpg" alt="Atlanta Hawks main logo" width="120" height="80"></center></td> <th align="center" width="20">@</th> <td width="240"><center><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v73/incurock31/3QC/Logos%20non-gifs/ORL__zps606f5ea5.jpg" width="120" height="80" alt="Orlando Magic main logo"></center></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="240"><center>17-13 (5-9 road)<br>Won 2</center></td> <th align="center" width="20"></th> <td width="240"><center>9-20 (6-9 home)<br>Won 1</center></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" bgcolor="silver" colspan="3"><strong>December 29th, 2013</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" colspan="3"><strong>Amway Center</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" colspan="3"><strong>6:00 PM</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" colspan="3"><strong>Fox Sports Florida / 580 AM</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <th align="center" bgcolor="silver" colspan="3"><strong>Possible Starters</strong></th> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" width="240"><span>Jeff Teague</span></td> <th align="center" width="20">PG</th> <td width="240"><span>Jameer Nelson</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" width="240"><span>Louis Williams</span></td> <th align="center" width="20">SG</th> <td width="240"><span>Arron Afflalo</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" width="240"><span>Kyle Korver</span></td> <th align="center" width="20">SF</th> <td width="240"><span>Tobias Harris</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" width="240"><span>Paul Millsap</span></td> <th align="center" width="20">PF</th> <td width="240"><span>Glen Davis</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" width="240"><span>Elton Brand</span></td> <th align="center" width="20">C</th> <td width="240"><span>Nik Vučević</span></td> </tr> <tr> <th align="center" bgcolor="silver" colspan="3"><strong>Advanced Stats, via NBA.com/stats</strong></th> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" width="240">97.4 (12th)</td> <th align="center" width="20">Pace</th> <td width="240">96.9 (14th)</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" width="240">104.7 (10th)</td> <th align="center" width="20">ORtg</th> <td width="240">99.2 (24th)</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" width="240">102.3 (T-12th)</td> <th align="center" width="20">DRtg</th> <td width="240">102.4 (T-14th)</td> </tr> <tr><th height="20" colspan="3" bgcolor="silver"></th></tr> </tbody></table>
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https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2013/12/29/5253954/magic-vs-hawks-game-time-tv-schedule-and-moreEvan Dunlap2013-12-29T13:57:50-05:002013-12-29T13:57:50-05:00Magic vs. Hawks: Southeast rivals clash again
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<img alt="Shelvin Mack" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fztKokCjGcNMl8KU7LFnYRg9bD4=/4x0:3995x2661/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/25908497/20131228_kdl_al3_041.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Shelvin Mack | Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Orlando and Atlanta have split the first two meetings between the teams.</p> <p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/">Orlando Magic</a> play the penultimate game of their six-game homestand Sunday against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.peachtreehoops.com/">Atlanta Hawks</a>.</p>
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<p>Tipoff between Orlando and Atlanta is set for 6:00 PM Eastern on Fox Sports Florida and ESPN 580 AM in Orlando. The Orlando Pinstriped Post GameThread will appear at 4:00 PM in this StoryStream and on the cover.</p>
<p><strong>Orlando's last time out</strong>: The Magic earned their first home victory of December on Friday with a 109-92 thrashing of the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.detroitbadboys.com/">Detroit Pistons</a>. <span>Nik Vučević</span>, <span>Tobias Harris</span>, and <span>Victor Oladipo</span> all contributed double-doubles, while <span>Arron Afflalo</span> scored 23 points on a tidy 9-of-11 shooting.</p>
<p><strong>Atlanta's last time out</strong>: The Hawks edged the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/teams/charlotte-bobcats">Charlotte Bobcats</a>, 118-116, in overtime on Saturday, Atlanta's third straight overtime contest and second straight victory. <span>Paul Millsap</span> led Atlanta with 33 points, while <span>Louis Williams</span> added 28 off the bench.</p>
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<a href="http://www.peachtreehoops.com/" target="new">Peachtree Hoops</a>
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<p><strong>The last meeting</strong>: Two days before Thanksgiving, the Magic blew out the Hawks, 109-92, in Atlanta behind 26 points from Afflalo and 18 apiece from Oladipo and <span>Andrew Nicholson</span>. Atlanta shot just 41.1 percent in the loss, its first at home to Orlando in the regular season since 2009.</p>
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https://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2013/12/29/5253892/atlanta-hawks-orlando-magic-2014-nba-scheduleEvan Dunlap