Atlanta Hawks vs Orlando Magic GAME 1 Recap 2011

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Hawks-Magic notebook

By Nada Taha, for NBA.com
Posted Saturday April 16, 2011 11:51PM
THE FACTS: Dwight Howard's quick and quiet press conference spoke volumes.
The frustration of losing 103-93 in Game 1 of the first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks Saturday night despite his 46 points and 19 rebounds was evident.
What wasn't as clear to him, any of his teammates or even head coach Stan Van Gundy was what they were going to do differently on the offensive end to counter Atlanta head coach Larry Drew's decision not to double Howard.
Atlanta's one-on-one defense allowed Howard to roam wildly as the rest of the Magic players, excluding Jameer Nelson, struggled to get into the double digits. The problem, Van Gundy said, was on the defensive end of the court, where Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford and Al Horford were left to score 25, 23 and 16, respectively.
QUOTABLE: "We knew that coming into this game it was going to be a tough job for our bigs to try and defend Dwight down low. I knew he would come out aggressive. I knew he would come out in attack mode and he had a heck of a first half."
-- Drew
THE STAT: Six of the nine Magic players that played the most minutes in the Hawks-Magic series last year are no longer on the team. (Matt Barnes, Marcin Gortat, Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, Mickael Pietrus, and Jason Williams)
TURNING POINT: It didn't take long for Drew to realize Howard was going to have a monstrous game, but instead of taking the obvious route, he decided not to make a defensive adjustment, leaving Dwight to rack up 46 points, but subsequently shutting down the Magic's perimeter players -- Orlando was 27.3 percent from beyond the arc.
QUOTABLE II: "If all five of their guys are going to shoot 50 percent or better and score what they scored, we're not going to beat them. Our guys have to know that and that's the way it is. If we can't get them under control a little bit at the other end, we've got no chance to win."
-- Van Gundy
HOT: Not only did Dwight's 46 points set his career-high for points in a playoff game, he also became the Magic's all-time leader in postseason scoring, tied Tracy McGrady for a franchise playoff record for points in a game and set the franchise playoff record for points in a half with 31.
NOT: The rest of the Orlando Magic team -- excluding Nelson, who contributed 27 points to the losing effort. No other player on the team scored more than 6 points, and Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson both finished the game without putting a point in their stat line.
NOTABLE: J.J. Redick returned to the Magic lineup after missing 17 regular-season games because of a lower abdominal strain. He played 18 minutes, scored 4 points and grabbed 3 boards in his return.
UP NEXT: Game 2 is 7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday at the Amway Center in Orlando.

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[clutchcity25]

Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson lost their minds this series.

[dh144498]

howard with 46 points and 19 rebounds and they still lose....

[KryptoChronicutelite]

@dtjr2020 He is definitely not going to Chi-town. He going to Lakers or something like that. Miami could take him since they now need a Center, but that has almost no possibility for happening.

[dtjr2020]

Dwight coming to the windy city of Chicago to join the Bulls.......Please send your arrguments to me no cursing though. :P

[flyforce16]

@dh144498 Yeah, that was the definition of "ass-kicking." Amazing that they still lost (like you said).

[thizizheat4ever]

@jayjoetube14 etan thomas

[jayjoetube14]

0:26 who's that girl defending dwight howard?

[rock1181977]

@simonlda Yeah ur right but Dwight didn't get as much points if it was from hedo great passes j rich did great this season the only one that really hasn't done anything was arenas but hedo j rich did good they made a huge mistake letting Lewis for arenas but we must remember hedo can knock the big shot

[halo3pownstar6199999]

Orlando is very lucky because Dwigit is from ATL and he didn't get drafted by ATL. So if Dwight leaves Orlando will not even make the playoffs.

[simonlda]

VINCE CARTER 09-10 PLAYOFFS AVERAGES:

15,5 ppg. 4,2 rpg. 2,3 apg. 0,402 FG%

TURKOGLU 10-11 playoffs average so far:

8 ppg, 4 rpg, 5 apg. 0.240 FG%

J RICK 10-11 playoffs avergaes so far:

6 ppg. 3,5 rpg. 0,5 apg. 0,25 FG%...

OTIS SMITH CANNOT SLEEP AT NIGHTS THINKING ABOUT THIS

[dominsmith]

You magic fans can thank mr Otis smith when Dwight Howard decides to leave