Atlanta Hawks outlast Orlando Magic in sloppy win, 95-88

Often the Atlanta Hawks have puzzling cold snaps during hot games. Friday night’s game against the Orlando Magic had two of those head-scratching quarters. The Hawks started by shooting the ball absolutely lights out. How lights out? Try going 8-8 with 5 three-pointers and a 16 point lead in the first four minutes. So, it began with a bang, but then the team slowly iced up as they headed to the second quarter.

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The Hawks led by 12 as they started the second period. Then, that lead evaporated like a Georgia mud-puddle in July. As I told one of my buddies on Twitter, it was like the Hawks covered the ball in butter and decided to toss it around like a bunch of mid-major walk-ons. Were there turnovers? There were so many turnovers I was questioning what team I was watching. The Hawks turned the ball over an astounding 11 times in the second quarter, and got outscored 29-14.

So with that dumpster fire of a quarter in the books, the only place to go was up. The second half saw Jeff Teague finally start scoring some points on his way to 17 total on the night, most in quick succession. Paul Millsap never let up as he really had good command of his jump shot and his thundering dunk. Good news, finally. The Hawks really turned their game on and led by 9 going to the final frame.

But something must have been wrong with the even-numbered quarters for the Hawks because they went cold yet again. For almost 6 minutes of gametime, the Hawks scored 4 points. Now, normally that’s an epic disaster. Except the Magic only scored 6 points in that same stretch. It was like both teams wanted to turn back the clock to a time when you had to get the ball out of a peach basket when you scored.

Luckily the Hawks would not be deterred by the poor scoring or ridiculous comebacks of the Magic. They managed to close the door late with an Al Horford slam on a rebound as he came flying in unchecked. So who gets the MVP on the night? Would it be Demarre with 15 points? Maybe Teague or Millsap with 17 and 20 points? Nope, the MVP goes to Al Horford who managed a double-double 17 points and 13 rebounds. A big night for Big Al.

Next up the Hawks take the Miami Heat on Saturday. Luckily the Heat don’t have Lebron James anymore, and they’re 6 games under .500 on the season. I’d like to put another one in the Hawks win column. Don’t miss it!