Hawks 88, Magic 84
Al Horford hit the go-ahead basket, and Jamal Crawford followed with a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer to send the Atlanta Hawks to an 88-84 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic on Friday to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Horford’s 22-foot jumper with 46.6 seconds left gave Atlanta an 85-84 lead. Crawford scored a game-high 23 points and banked in a straight-away 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left as the shot clock wound down to provide the final margin.
Joe Johnson added 21 points, Josh Smith had 15 and 10 rebounds and Horford tallied 13 points.
Dwight Howard had 21 points and 15 rebounds for Orlando, which will attempt to even the series in Sunday’s Game 4 in Atlanta.
The Magic had taken an 84-83 lead on Brandon Bass’ 21-footer with one minute to play before Horford and Crawford made the decisive shots.
Orlando’s Jason Richardson had 14 points and nine rebounds but was ejected with 2:21 to play after getting in a skirmish with Atlanta’s Zaza Pachulia, who was also tossed.
Orlando never led until Quentin Richardson hit a 3-pointer to give the Magic a 69-68 edge with 10:49 remaining. But after J.J. Redick’s layup gave the Magic a two-point lead, Crawford scored six of a 10-0 run that gave the Hawks a 79-71 advantage with 6:05 to play.
Johnson had 17 first-half points to help Atlanta to a 51-42 halftime lead.