Magic at Hawks
The Orlando Magic are not content to earn the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and expect to spend the rest of the regular season moving up the standings. The Magic will try to take another step forward and win for the fourth time in five games when they finish a two-game road trip by visiting the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.
Orlando fell at home to the Dallas Mavericks in its first game after the All-Star break on Friday but bounced back Monday, recovering from a 19-point, third--quarter deficit to stun the Brooklyn Nets 115-113 and pull within 1 1/2 games of the No. 7 spot in the East. "I think it was our urgency, our energy, our physicality," Magic forward Aaron Gordon told reporters. "We started moving the ball and it was our overall aggressiveness. This is big. We're going to see Brooklyn again, maybe two more times, and if it ever comes down to a tiebreaker, we have a two-game (head-to-head) lead on them. We're in the hunt and this was a big one for us to get." The Hawks are nine games behind Orlando in another lottery-bound campaign and won two straight over playoff contenders Miami and Dallas before falling 129-112 at Philadelphia on Monday. Atlanta continues to get encouraging performances from its young players and watched John Collins, Trae Young and De'Andre Hunter each score 20 or more points in the loss.
TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: FS Florida, FS Southeast
ABOUT THE MAGIC (25-32): Gordon led the way with 27 points and 10 rebounds in Monday's win while center Nikola Vucevic added 16 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and a fiery speech during a third-quarter timeout that sparked the team. "That was Vooch, he was yelling at us and that's what we needed," reserve guard Terrence Ross, who scored all 21 of his points in the second half, told the team's website. "That got everybody on the same page, that changed the momentum, we started playing better and moving the ball more and it led to us getting after them more. It was the spark that we needed." Vucevic's double-double marked his third straight and fourth in the last five games.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (17-42): Young is the leader of the team and is on a roll since making his first All-Star appearance on Feb. 16, averaging 34.3 points in three games. Hunter's 22 points on Monday marked his highest total in nearly a month and his fifth consecutive game in double figures, a span that includes 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting in a 135-126 loss at Orlando on Feb. 10. Collins went for 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting at the 76ers, following up a 35-point, 17-rebound outburst in the 111-107 triumph over Dallas on Saturday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hawks SG Kevin Huerter is 4-of-21 from the floor over the last two games, including 2-of-12 from beyond the arc.
2. Magic PG Markelle Fultz struggled to five points on 2-of-9 shooting Monday after reaching double figures in each of the previous five contests.
3. Atlanta took the first two meetings before Orlando took the Feb. 10 matchup at home 135-126.