| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| HAWKS | 24 | 25 | 45 | 24 | 118 |
| MAGIC | 29 | 22 | 30 | 30 | 101 |
Recap:
The first quarter featured sloppy play by both teams, but mostly by the Hawks. As a result of their turnovers, the Magic were running and gunning in the first. That style of play helped J.J. Redick register one of his more productive quarters as a member of the Magic, as he scored seven points to lead the Magic in the first. After one quarter, the Magic led by five, with a score of 29-24.
In the second quarter, Stan Van Gundy decided to switch up his rotation a bit. Heading into the second quarter, Tony Battie, J.J. Redick and Courtney Lee were the only Magic players who had entered the game off of the bench. Anthony Johnson was added to that list in the second, playing just over six minutes and playing productive from the point guard position. He registered a bucket along with an assist and a rebound, while not committing a turnover.
Hedo Turkoglu played some point forward for the Magic, experimenting with a small lineup, as he Redick and Lee were all on the floor at the same time. It was an obvious experimental time, as the Magic offense looked stagnant and was much less effective. Their shooting percentage dropped from 61.9 percent after one quarter to 47.5 percent at the half. They did, however, head into the half with a two point lead, at 51-49.
As the second half began, it was a totally different game. The Magic took the court with an interesting starting lineup of Jameer Nelson, Keith Bogans, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard. Bogans had not been on the court in the entire first half. That lineup struggled on the defensive and offensive ends, allowing the Hawks to go on a huge offensive outburst, scoring 20 points in the quarter in less than seven minutes. The Hawks continued their solid offensive play throughout the quarter and wound up dropping 45 points on the Magic defense.
Orlando managed to register 30 points of their own on offense, but the damage had already been done. For the remainder of the game, Coach Stan Van Gundy rotated his players in to get a look at different lineups and players. The team pulled to within seven at one point, but Acie Law took charge for the Hawks, scoring bucket after bucket to end any run the Magic were trying to put together.
Law score 20 points in the game to lead the Hawks, followed by Mo Evans’ 17 points. For the Magic, Lewis led the team with 22 points, followed by Dwight Howard’s 17. J.J. Redick played considerable minutes and played well, notching 12 points and shooting 5-of-8 from the field. He also did well on the defensive end, as did Howard, who notched eight blocks in the game.
The Magic, however, couldn’t recover from their third quarter defensive lapse and lost the game by the final score of 118-101. They take the court next at 7 p.m. Wednesday night against the Charlotte Bobcats at Amway Arena. Log on to OrlandoMagic.com to watch the live Baseline Blog throughout the game with up-to-date commentary.
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Preview:
Tonight’s game against the Atlanta Hawks kicks off the Orlando Magic’s 20th Anniversary season. Joe Johnson, Al Horford and company come to town looking to build on their surprising campaign in the 2007-2008 season.
After finishing the season aa the eighth seed in the Eastern conference with a 37-45 record, they entered the playoffs and took on the top seed Boston Celtics. Surprising the basketball world, the Hawks took the Celtics to the brink of elimination, winning two games in the five game series. Boston won the deciding game at home and went on to win the NBA championship.
With a young, athletic and exciting team, there is a lot of optimism in Atlanta. They bring back three all-star caliber players in Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby and Josh Smith. Down low, they also return unanimous 2008 Rookie First Team player Al Horford, who finished second to Kevin Durant in the Rookie of the Year voting.
This summer was an interesting one for the Hawks. They lost one of their top players in Josh Childress, who decided to play overseas rather than re-sign with the Hawks. To replace him, the team signed Maurice Evans as a free agent from the Magic. They also resigned Josh Smith to a multi-year contract and picked up a talented young big man in Randolph Morris.
On paper, the two teams look very comparable. Big, strong and athletic with players who can shoot from the outside. But as we all know, games aren’t won on paper.
The Magic finished last season with 52 wins and the Southeast division crown. They also moved on to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, eventually losing to the Detroit Pistons.
Over the summer, many changes also took place in Orlando, where only 10 players return from last year. Joining the team this season are free agent signees Mickael Pietrus, Anthony Johnson, Dwayne Jones, Jeremy Richardson and Mike Wilks. Another new face, Courtney Lee, was selected by the Magic in the first round of the NBA draft with the 22nd overall selection.
With these new additions, Coach Stan Van Gundy and GM Otis Smith believe the team has become more a more athletic and defensive team while not sacrificing their shooting ability. The Magic led the NBA in 3-point shots last season.
Tonight’s game is a match-up between two of the most athletic teams in the league, holding a showdown between players on the perimeter and down low. Dwight Howard will look to build on his gold medal summer tonight down low against Horford, Randolph and Zaza Pachulia. On the perimeter, four Magic shooting guards (J.J. Redick, Pietrus, Keith Bogans and Lee) will all do their best to defend Joe Johnson shots and keep Josh Smith from attacking the rim.
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Keys to the game:
Perimeter defense. This could be the deciding factor in the game, as both teams have efficient outside shooters and athletic ability to drive to the hoop. Whichever team can defend the 3-point line and stay between their man and the basket should have the advantage.
Offensive rebounding. Dwight Howard and Al Horford are two of the best rebounding big men in the league. Each player does a great job of pulling down boards to limit second shots for opponents, and also increase their own team’s second shot opportunities.
Magic rotation. With a glut of players at the shooting guard position, Stan Van Gundy will have the challenge of getting each player enough time to clearly evaluate them. Against such an athletic team, that may not bode well for Orlando.
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Shootaround:
This morning’s pre-game shoot around, scheduled to run from 10 to 10:45 a.m., was a bit longer than anticipated. Stan Van Gundy wanted more time prepare his players to for tonight’s game against the Atlanta Hawks and NBA referees met with the players and staff after practice to emphasize rule changes and policies for the season. Eventually, players exited the RDV Sportsplex around 12:15 p.m., about seven hours prior to tip-off at Amway Arena.
All of these are more evidence that tonight’s game is only a pre-season game. Players are still learning and refining and coaches are still trying to set their rotation. As a result, Van Gundy doesn’t have too many expectations heading into his team’s first game action against another color.
“I just want them to go out and play hard, and I always say, especially the early exhibition games this first week, it’s all good, because even if it’s bad it just lets us know where we want to work and who we need to work with,” he said. “These first ones are just good learning experiences.”
One player who spoke after the morning shoot-around was Courtney Lee. He will take the court tonight for his first NBA game (discounting Summer League) and have to defend one of the premiere scorers in the league in Joe Johnson.
“I’m looking forward to it, “ Lee said. “It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m up for the challenge all night.”
Lee, along with Tony Battie and Van Gundy, spoke about the team’s anxiousness to take the court tonight. After a long summer and one week of training camp, it’s safe to say that every member of the Magic is ready to shoot and defend against players wearing another color.
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Game Notes:
Oct. 6 vs. Atlanta (preseason): Orlando is 38-35 all-time vs. Atlanta (26-11 at home, 12-24 on the road) during regular season action, including 2-2 last season…Orlando is 12-8 all-time vs. Atlanta during preseason action...Orlando is 4-1 vs. the Hawks during the playoffs (1996 East Semis)...The Magic have split the last 10 regular season meetings with the Hawks...Orlando has won six of the last eight matchups at home, but lost six of the last seven meetings on the road…The winning team has only broken 100 points twice in the last nine meetings…Dwight Howard attended SW Atlanta Christian Academy…Anthony Johnson appeared in 181 career games with the Hawks during a combined five seasons (1998-2001, 2006-08)…Jeremy Richardson played 24 regular season games with Atlanta in 2006-07 and 2007-08…Trainer Tom Smith worked with the Hawks for six seasons from 2000-05 as the assistant athletic trainer…For last season’s stats and Magic career numbers vs. Atlanta, see p. 223 of the media guide.
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