Hawks-Magic game thread

[Atlantaholic]

Wooo!

Great way to start the year... Hopefully it is a sign of things to come.

All I know is that if our bench can play half as good as they did today it would already be a massive upgrade from last year.

[DJlaysitup]

All I know is that if our bench can play half as good as they did today it would already be a massive upgrade from last year.

Exactly....I was always a JChillz fan (except for his silly outside shot) - but it looks like we might have an actual bench this year - a bunch of mid-level veterans who want to keep making NBA money. As long as they don't get selfish this could be gold.

Did Othella even play?

[AtLaS]

Great to see Mo and Acie playing great. Mo couldn't miss and Acie was aggressive as he should ALWAYS be. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. I also liked what I heard about Solo.

[Atlantaholic]

Exactly....I was always a JChillz fan (except for his silly outside shot) - but it looks like we might have an actual bench this year - a bunch of mid-level veterans who want to keep making NBA money. As long as they don't get selfish this could be gold.

Did Othella even play?

Nope. Not tonight. They said Woody was going to go with Eleven guys only tonight... I think he actually ended up going with more but Othella didn't get any burn.

[Atlantaholic]

Great to see Mo and Acie playing great. Mo couldn't miss and Acie was aggressive as he should ALWAYS be. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. I also liked what I heard about Solo.

If Solo can get in on the rotation it will only make us tougher inside... More capable players inside equals = more fouls to spare = more physical play.

Horford seems to be taking the next step too. His offense and defense were A grade tonight.

[DJlaysitup]

I realize that this is a very small sample-size for judging possible future performance...but it sounded like Solo did very well...and it wasn't just garbage time. That could bode well for our interior situation. Zaza will still be ahead of him for playing time - but we have to have quality depth to cover for injuries. It's a long season.

Three cheers for Acie - great game and hitting shots away from home.

[DrReality]

I missed the whole thing. Sounds great. Confidence will be a great boost for this team.

[DrReality]

This is tough to read but here is the box score;

PTS REB (O/D) AST FG-A FT-A 3P-A ST TO PF BLK MIN

Law 20 5 (2/3) 4 8-11 2-2 2-3 0 3 2 0 25

Evans 17 1 (1/0) 3 6-9 1-2 4-4 2 2 1 0 23

Horford * 13 9 (3/6) 1 6-11 1-1 0-0 0 2 2 4 22

Bibby * 11 1 (0/1) 4 5-11 0-0 1-5 3 0 2 0 21

Johnson * 11 2 (1/1) 3 5-10 0-0 1-2 2 1 0 0 23

Pachulia 11 6 (1/5) 0 3-5 5-5 0-0 0 2 4 1 19

Smith * 9 7 (2/5) 2 4-14 1-2 0-1 0 1 1 1 32

Jones 8 3 (0/3) 0 3-4 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 13

Williams * 7 3 (1/2) 2 2-7 2-3 1-2 0 2 2 1 27

Murray 6 3 (0/3) 2 3-7 0-0 0-0 0 1 4 0 24

Morris 4 1 (1/0) 0 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2

West 1 1 (1/0) 2 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 5

Gardner 0 0 (0/0) 0 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0 4

TOTAL 118 42 (13/29) 23 47-93 15-19 9-18 7 14 18 7 0

50.5% 78.9% 50.0%

[DJlaysitup]

Mario is hanging on by his fingernails :grimace:

[DrReality]

RECAP:

Hawks 118, Magic 101

Oct. 6, 2008

CBSSports.com wire reports

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Reserve guards Maurice Evans and Acie Law scored 17 and 20 points respectively, and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Orlando Magic 118-101 Monday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

Rashard Lewis led Orlando with 22 points. Olympian Dwight Howard had 17 points, five rebounds and eight blocks. The block total matches Howard's regular-season best.

Orlando led 51-49 at halftime but the Hawks outscored the Magic 45-30 in the third quarter and coasted to the victory.

Evans, who left Orlando via free agency after last season, and Law, who hit a running 60-footer as time expired in the third quarter, combined for 20 points in that span.

Howard arrived in camp after winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing vowing to lead the league in rebounding -- which he did last year by more than a board a game - and blocked shots. Though he didn't make any public proclamations about his free throw shooting after making only 59 percent last year, he hit five of six tries Monday.

One of the Magic's main preseason questions was who would play shooting guard opposite Jameer Nelson. Coach Stan Van Gundy named Nelson as his starter, and the fifth-year pro played the first and third quarters, allowing Van Gundy to experiment.

Free-agent signee Mickael Pietrus started and made a quick impact, scoring four of the Magic's first six points, including a driving dunk and long jumper. J.J. Redick, the former Duke star who's yet to make his mark in the NBA, scored seven points in the first quarter. At times he was paired with first-round draft pick Courtney Lee.

Advertisement

Tony Battie, making a comeback from a shoulder injury that cost him all of last season, grabbed seven rebounds but missed his first four shots and finished with six points on 2-of-8 shooting.

The Hawks, who made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference despite a 37-45 record, took eventual NBA champion Boston to seven games before falling in the first round. With a healthy Mike Bibby at point guard, Atlanta hopes to have the pieces to complement forward Marvin Williams and Josh Smith and shooting guard Joe Johnson.

Bibby, who joined the team midway through last season, finally appears healthy after battling thumb and heel injuries in 2006-07. Bibby had 11 points and four assists in 21 minutes.

Orlando led by as many as 10 points in the first half before Evans made a free throw and hit a 3 in the final minute before halftime to cut the Magic's leads to 51-49.

Note

[crimedog]

I try not to get too high (or low) on pre-season performances so the only comment I'll make is that its good to know that Acie is playing with some confidence after he seemed a little shell-shocked last season. If he can keep consistently hitting those jumpers, midrange - not half court, he will have a much easier time getting some space to finish around the hoop.

Shame Hunter couldn't make it in, I think we all wanted to know if he could keep up.

[WraithSentinel]

It is good to see Acie have a very good game even if it is PS. That guy need to gain confidence. A game like this will go a long ways toward that.

Edited October 7, 2008 by HawksJJHorford