The Hawks Finish the Magic By 21 Points Going Into All-Star Break

The Orlando Magic lost by a heartbreaking 21 points to the Hawks at home, making them 13-47. This marks the last game before the all-star break and puts the Magic at the bottom of the NBA east.

• Leading scorers for the Atlanta Hawks were Bogdan Bogdanović (23) and Trae Young (22).
• Cole Anthony (23) and Jalen Suggs (19) were leading scorers for the Magic.
• The Hawks outscored the Magic in every quarter of the game besides the fourth.

Beautiful find, beautiful finish pic.twitter.com/KrstHlxYKQ

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 17, 2022

The Magic Fall Behind Early

The Magic started the game well, staying within points of Atlanta until a tie ending three from Young halfway through the first quarter. Making careless mistakes and taking bad shots gave an early lead to the Hawks. The Hawks began to snowball with impressive shooting and playmaking leading to a more than 10-point lead before the end of the first quarter.

A Team Effort

Headed into #NBAAllStar with the W! pic.twitter.com/IPBU8Ejgtd

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 17, 2022

Young and fellow guard Bogdan Bogdanović accumulated a solid 12 assists between them. Both guards excelled from beyond the arc last night, with Young going 4-5 and Bogdanovic 4-6. But the two guards were not the only players for the Hawks to contribute to the team.

Kevin Huerter had 15 points going 6-10 from the field, 50% from three, while grabbing two assists and a steal. Forwards De’Andre Hunter and Onyeka Okongwu had 14 and 12 points, respectively, while also combining for nine rebounds. By the end of the game, the Hawks bench had outscored the Magic’s by 26 points.

“Trae does such a great job of forcing all the attention on him, and then getting it to guys to make shots. We’ve obviously got to get better at defending the 3-point line,” says Magic coach Jamahl Mosely.

what a DIME @The_ColeAnthony 👀

📺: https://t.co/E6t0vwlOuQ pic.twitter.com/DicLmnhIWj

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) February 17, 2022

Last night, the Magic’s young core was the team’s only chance against the onslaught the Hawks unleashed. Cole Anthony used every trick in his bag to try to will last night into a win. He ended the game with 23 points, five assists and seven rebounds,, but it wasn’t enough. Rookie Franz Wagner had 12 points off. The Magic starters more than doubled their benches points but could not catch up to the Hawks’ offense.

The game was over when the Hawks were able to shoot freely from deep. When given the opportunity, the Hawks over the season have shown proficiency from beyond the arc and punish teams that do not guard the three. Orlando got a taste of Young’s 45.6 field goal percentage and 38.35 from beyond the arc in a send-off to all-star break they won’t soon forget.