Only those with no knowledge of the Magic's domination of the Hawks would've raised an eyebrow in watching Orlando roll through Game 3 to move to within one game of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Magic are 7-0 in the playoffs, have won 27 of 30 games overall after Dwight Howard had 21 points and 16 rebounds, have beaten Atlanta in nine of the past 10 meetings and have won the first three games of the series by an average of 29 points. Fans booed the Hawks at halftime when they trailed 52-33.
The Hawks are going down with All-Star guard Joe Johnson. The pending free agent scored eight points while making just 3 of 15 shots. "Coming into this series, Joe Johnson . . . taking him out would be the key to us winning, and I think myself and the team have done a good job of doing that," said Magic forward Matt Barnes.
Home cooking did little for the Hawks yet benefitted Howard, the Atlanta native who played in front of a huge number of family, including a 91-year-old grandmother who had only seen him play an NBA game in person one other time. His teammates seemed at home making 10 3-pointers.
"We understand that in order for us to win, we have to play defense," Howard said after the Magic limited Atlanta to 35 percent shooting (29 for 83). "And we have a lot of shooters . . . we try to feed off that."
There wasn't much drama in Philips Arena after the middle of the first quarter. A layup by Josh Smith with 6:49 left in the first quarter tied the score at 11, but the Magic closed the quarter with a 17-7 run and blew the game open in the second.
Howard was limited to a little more than six minutes in the period because of foul trouble, but his teammates made 5 of their 11 3-points shots and the Hawks scored just 15 points on 6 of 20 shooting.
Atlanta led by eight points at halftime of Game 2 in Orlando and also trailed by just one after three quarters on Thursday, but now the Hawks are on the verge of being swept out of the second round for the season year in a row.
What happened?
"I wish I knew," said Atlanta coach Mike Woodson, whose team fell to Cleveland in the second round last season. "It's very disappointing. After we played three wonderful quarters there [Thursday], I figured we could come home and really play at a high level and make a series out of it. We were so flat."
Johnson scored two points in the first half to finish a four-quarter sequence where he had six points and two field goals.
He has made just 12 of 42 shots (28.6 percent) in the series, averaging 12.3 points. In his past six postseason games, he has made 30 of 96 shots (31.3) while averaging 12.3 points after putting up nearly 26 over the first four games of the Hawks' first-round series against Milwaukee.
"Embarrassing," Johnson said. "Guys look to me for guidance. When I'm playing like that, it's almost impossible for us to win."
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said, "He's getting shots that he will normally make. Sometimes, you get lucky . . . we're going hard at it, but I don't think it's anything we're doing."
Rashard Lewis led the Magic with 22 points, hitting 4-of-6 treys, and Orlando whipped the Hawks on the boards with a 51-34 rebounding edge.
There's not a lot of relevant analysis.
Josh Smith had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Atlanta, Jamal Crawford scored 22 off the bench, but beyond their combined 37 points the rest of the Hawks combined for 38 on 13 of 30 shooting.
This was worse than Thanksgiving night, when Atlanta led Orlando 51-39 at halftime in Philips Arena yet went on to lose 93-76.
The Hawks' defense was problematic again Saturday, and that led to a disjointed offense.
"Rotations, different coverages . . . they failed us all night," Smith said. "We were poor on rotations, and we were indecisive on double-teaming Dwight. I don't think we lost that bad at home all season. We just couldn't get it done."
Barnes said the Magic didn't give any thought to the Hawks' fans booing at halftime.
"This is just a team we match up really well against," he said of Atlanta, who Orlando beat by 17, 32 and 18 points in the regular season. "We played them really well in the season . . . so if we go out and execute the game plan our coaches put together, we're going to have a good win."
Van Gundy, looking forward to the possibility to a second consecutive playoff sweep, echoed that.
"We've been in that situation. It's unfortunate, especially for a team that has had a great year," he said. "In Orlando last year we got booed after the very first playoff game. We won 59 games and lost our first playoff game at the buzzer [to Philadelphia] and people were throwing those noise makers at us. Fans don't come expecting anything other than you to win every game."
Watch Magic Vs Hawk Playoff Clips Here
Posted Saturday May 8, 2010 9:54PM
By Matt Winkeljohn,
NBA.com
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