Hawks Top Magic 86-80 in Orlando
The Orlando Magic came back home from a nice west coast road trip to face a red hot Atlanta Hawks at the Amway Center. The Hawks started both halves hot and spent the rest of them holding on as the pesky Magic threatened to overtake them. But time and again the Magic could not get shots to go down when they needed them.
The Hawks raced out to a 16-2 lead to start the game. But J.J. Redick checked in and the Magic rallied to take a 27-26 lead. The Hawks went back ahead immediately after and stretched their halftime lead to 46-34. Atlanta was led by Josh Smith and Jeff Teague with 16 points each. Al Horford had a double double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
The Hawks stretched the lead to 19 early in the third quarter. But the Magic fought back to cut the lead to 80-72. But they could only stay within 10-12 points until they finally cut it to six points in the last minute of the game. But the Hawks held it right there to win 86-80. Orlando shot only 38% on the night while the Hawks shot 44%. Atlanta is now 13-6 and the Magic falls to -13.
The Los Angles Clippers beat the Charlotte Bobcats 100-94. The win was the eighth straight for the Clippers and the loss was Charlotte’s ninth in a row. Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and Matt Barnes each had 19 points to lead the Clippers. Eric Bledsoe chipped in 13 points for L.A.
Byron Mullens led the Bobcats with 19 points and Kemba Walker had 17. Charlotte equaled last season’s win total of seven in their first 12 games this year. But win number eight has been hard to come by. The Bobcats are now 7-14.
The Brooklyn Nets snapped a five game losing streak with a 94-88 win over the hapless Toronto Raptors. Joe Johnson led the Nets with 23 points, C.J. Watson had 16 points and Andray Blatche chipped in 14 points. The Nets are now 12-9 while the Raptors fell to 4-19. They were led by Ed Davis with 24 points.
The Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers for their fourth straight road win 96-89. The Bulls bounced back from last night’s loss to the Clippers by getting 21 points from Joakim Noah and 19 from Luol Deng to improve their record to 12-9. The Sixers dropped to 12-10 despite getting 26 points from Jrue Holiday and 16 from Evan Turner. The Sixers led 80-79 with 5:20 to go before the Bulls went on a 7-0 run to get control of the game.
The Oklahoma City Thunder stayed red hot with a 92-88 win over the New Orleans Hornets. Kevin Durant had 35 points to lead the 18-4 Thunder to their ninth win in a row. The Hornets hung tough, led by Brian Roberts with 16 points and Ryan Anderson with 14 points.
