Hawks Beat Magic 111-92, Improve to 19-16

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Orlando Magic tonight by a score of 111-92, successfully completing the first night of a back-to-back. Atlanta won its fourth straight game, getting a nice road victory against a division opponent.

Although the Magic led 26-23 after the first quarter, the Hawks took the lead at halftime by a score of 52-47. Atlanta shot over 50% during the first two quarters, led by strong performances from Dennis Schröder, Paul Millsap, and Kent Bazmore (who went 2-2 on 3-pointers early on).

The Hawks played very well in the third quarter, and led 78-65 at the end of the period. While Orlando has been far from an offensive juggernaut this season, Atlanta’s defensive performance was much better than the 131 points the Magic scored in the last meeting.

Orlando fought back in the fourth quarter, cutting the Hawks’ lead to 88-84 with just under eight minutes left. Atlanta pushed back though, and took a commanding lead. Aside from this brief stretch, the game was never in doubt during the final minutes.

This game was a nice team performance from the Hawks, and multiple players finished in double digits. While Millsap and Schröder are expected to score points on a nightly basis, it was especially encouraging to see nice showings from Malcolm Delaney and Bazmore tonight as well. Bazemore has been the subject of lots of criticism so far this season, but seemed much more confident and relaxed during this game. He shot 6-9, and 3-3 on 3-pointers.

Up next, the Hawks head to New Orleans to finish off the back-to-back against the Pelicans. New Orleans is 14-22 this season, but beat the Hawks 112-94 earlier on this year. This will be the final meeting between the two teams.