Hawks 103, Magic 93
Joe Johnson scored 25 points, Jamal Crawford tallied 23 and the Atlanta Hawks collectively overcame Dwight Howard’s dominating performance to post a 103-93 victory over the host Orlando Magic in Saturday’s opening game of the first-round playoff series.
Al Horford added 16 points, Josh Smith had 15 and Kirk Hinrich 13 as the Hawks looked nothing like the squad that limped into the playoffs with six straight losses, nor the one that was swept out of last year's playoffs by Orlando in four routs.
Howard tied a Magic franchise playoff record with 46 points and also grabbed 19 rebounds. Howard set a franchise playoff record with 31 first-half points -- eight off the NBA playoff mark of 39 in a half set by Golden State's Eric "Sleepy" Floyd in 1987. Jameer Nelson scored 26 of his 27 points in the second half, but it wasn't enough to rally the Magic.
Game 2 is Tuesday in Orlando.
Atlanta used a 17-1 run to open a 71-54 lead just past the midway point of the third quarter. Smith had seven points during the run.
Nelson kept Orlando in range by scoring 15 consecutive Magic points and finished with a franchise-record 20 in the quarter that ended with Atlanta leading 85-71. The Hawks’ biggest lead was 18 in the final quarter.
Atlanta made 14 of 18 second-quarter shots and finished on an 18-9 run to take a 55-48 halftime lead despite Howard’s 11-of-16 shooting.