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Orlando 98, Atlanta 79   email this discussion to a friend?

myLot reputation of 33/100. tvbp1985 (216) 6 years ago


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Even with the best record in the Eastern Conference, the Orlando Magic see plenty of room for improvement.

Carlos Arroyo scored 15 points, Dwight Howard added 11 points and 11 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic coasted to a 98-79 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.

"We did a good job tonight, but it was nothing special," said guard Keyon Dooling, who helped the Magic bench outscore Atlanta's reserves 49-32. "I think if you asked any guy on our team, they would all say we're playing OK, but we're not playing near the best ball we can."

Orlando, which has won three straight and seven of its last eight, put six players in double figures. Hedo Turkoglu had 14 points, while Keith Bogans also had 13.

"We're still searching a little bit," Magic coach Brian Hill said. "I think we're where we hoped we would be record-wise at this point, but we've still got a lot of areas we could clean up."


Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 16 points, while Tyronn Lue and Salim Stoudamire each score 14. Atlanta, which has lost five of its last six games, shot only 36 percent and committed 20 turnovers.

"I'm going to have to give the Magic credit, they did a great job on us," Johnson said. "We got off to a terrible start and we don't have enough experience to come back from that."

The Hawks missed their first nine shots from the field, opening the door for the Magic to open a 21-7 lead. Turkoglu had nine points and Jameer Nelson eight as the Magic shot 59 percent in the first quarter to lead 31-18.

Then it got worse. The Hawks shot only 20 percent (4-of-20) in the second period, falling behind 57-29 at halftime.

"We haven't taken a good butt whipping in a while, so it was time to have one of these games," Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. "We were off for the whole first half. It's just so uncharacteristic of how we've been playing defensively to give up 57 points in a half."

Orlando received contributions from each of the nine players who saw time in the first half. Dooling and Arroyo had 10 points apiece as the Magic bench outscored Atlanta reserves 27-11.

Orlando returned the favor by missing its first eight shots of the third period, but the best the Hawks could do was cut the lead to 59-41. Turkoglu hit a 3-pointer to push Orlando's lead back over 20 points and Atlanta never challenged again.

"We're the first team in the East with 10 wins and that's big, but we're facing a challenge ahead of us with a long (six-game) road trip," Hill said. "We continue to get better defensively and I think we're doing better with the ball, but we'll see how those things hold up after a long trip."

 

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