Magic at Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks lost just 22 games last season while reaching the Eastern Conference finals, but Atlanta already has more defeats this season following Sunday’s loss at the Orlando Magic. The Hawks get a shot at instant redemption Monday, hosting the Magic in the back-half of a home-and-home series after Nikola Vucevic nailed a buzzer-beating jumper in Orlando’s 96-94 victory Sunday.
The Magic won for just the second time in their past 12 games, but nearly gave it away by squandering a 94-86 lead before Vucevic’s heroics. “We’ve had a lot of games where we appear to have control of the game,” Orlando coach Scott Skiles told reporters after the Magic went scoreless from just inside the four-minute mark until Vucevic’s 18-foot game winner. While Orlando has made a habit of struggling to closing out games, Atlanta continues to fall behind early in contests, trailing by 14 points in the first half. “We have to stop putting ourselves in that situation of being down 14 on the road,” Atlanta forward Paul Millsap lamented to the media afterward. “It is unacceptable.”
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE MAGIC (22-28): Vucevic fell one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with 22 points and nine rebounds while making up for several costly turnovers down the stretch as the Hawks rallied. Orlando has played 12 games decided by three points or less – the highest total in the NBA – and are 5-7 in those contests. Elfrid Payton dished out 12 assists after recording only two total in his past two games, while Evan Fournier scored 21 points to reach double figures for just the second time in his last five contests.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (30-23): Atlanta’s three-game winning streak came to a halt as the Hawks struggled from the field, shooting 38.5 percent after converting 52 percent of their attempts during the streak. Center Al Horford shot 54 percent in his previous five games before a 5-of-15 performance Sunday, while Jeff Teague (24 points) and Kent Bazemore (23 points) paced the Atlanta offense. The Hawks’ bench, which has played well, finished with only 12 points on 3-of-18 shooting.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Sunday’s victory marks the Magic’s fourth in the past 21 meetings with Atlanta.
2. Orlando played Sunday without F Tobias Harris, who missed his first game of the season with a sore left ankle.
3. Atlanta C Tiago Splitter did not play for a fourth consecutive game due to a hip injury, and likely will not be back before next weekend’s All-Star break.