Hawks Final Score: Atlanta 81, Orlando 72

In one of the ugliest basketball games one could witness, the Hawks were able to pull out an 81-72 win behind Al Horford's 15 and 9, and a combined 17 points and 19 rebounds from Zaza Pachulia and Ivan Johnson off the bench.

Halftime Report: Hawks lead 41-37 in a rough offensive half.

The Hawks came out sluggish in the first quarter and fell behind to the Magic 23-21 shooting 38.1% from the field and looked genuinely disinterested in running any of their offensive sets. Their best stretch came when they got seven quick points on three Magic turnovers early in the quarter, but after that they were unable to create much offense. While the starters struggled, the bench provided a spark behind Ivan Johnson, Zaza Pachulia, and Anthony Morrow, which helped them to stay close.

The second quarter started with the same bench unit on the floor, who continued to play well, but the Hawks were able to regain the lead when Jeff Teague and Al Horford returned to the floor. The defense picked up, and they were once again able to force turnovers and get out in transition to jump-start their stagnant offense. Atlanta took the lead on a Jeff Teague three that put them up 28-27, and they extended that lead to 34-27, before Orlando made a run to re-take the lead at 37-35 with just under four minutes to play. The Hawks finished the half on a 6-0 run from that point to take a 41-35 lead in one of the worst halves of basketball one could imagine. Teague led the team with nine points and four assists, while Al had seven points and five boards, and Zaza had six points and six rebounds.

LD Announces Starting Lineup

The Hawks will start Jeff Teague, Devin Harris, Kyle Korver, Josh Smith, and Al Horford tonight against the Orlando Magic. DeShawn Stevenson's back is feeling better and was not listed inactive, but he was the latest Hawk to feel ill with a flu bug that has been making it's rounds in the locker room. Drew said the back is not an issue, but that he has been feeling under the weather. DeShawn can be used, but if all goes well against the Magic, he won't be needed much.

The Hawks will not go with their big lineup, choosing to play smaller with Al at the 5, where he will likely match up with Nikola Vucevic while the match-up of the night (if there is one) will be Josh Smith against Glen "Big Baby" Davis. The Hawks appear to be the clear favorites tonight, and this is a great chance for Atlanta to get a convincing win and rest some of their stars that have been asked to play a lot of minutes early in the year due to so many close games.

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