Magic Dominate Hawks to Claim 7-Seed in Playoffs

The Orlando Magic cruised past the Atlanta Hawks 120-95 in the NBA Play-In Tournament to advance to the NBA Playoffs.

Game recap

The 7th-seed Magic hosted the 8th-seed Hawks for the chance to play the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Magic outplayed the Hawks in the first half. They led 61-47 at halftime and led by as much as 20 during the second quarter.

Atlanta surged, though, and cut the deficit to three with 2:30 left in the third quarter. The Magic took over again in the final period, outscoring the Hawks 41-22 in the fourth quarter.

Magic top performers

Magic players Cole Anthony and Anthony Black exploded from off the bench to lift Orlando to the win. Anthony led the team in scoring with 26 points. He shot 10-for-17 from the field in 20 minutes on the court and led the Magic from beyond the arc, shooting 4-for-9. He also had six assists and three rebounds.

Black was similarly dominant. He scored 16 points and shot a perfect 3-for-3 from three. He shot 6-for-7 from the field overall and added four assists and four rebounds to his stat line.

Magic forward Franz Wagner grabbed 13 rebounds on top of his 13 points. Paolo Banchero shot 9-for-11 from the charity stripe to propel him to 17 points with his nine rebounds.

Hawks top performers

Hawks guard Trae Young was ejected from the game after receiving two technical fouls in a row. Young threw a hard pass at an official after making a basket to receive his first technical foul. Then, when the officials were trying to get the ball to the other side of the court for Orlando’s free throws, Young intercepted the ball and played keep-away from officials. He received his second technical foul and was ejected with 4:47 left in the game.

Young led the Hawks in scoring by a significant amount. He dropped 28 points in his 40 minutes on the court. Zaccharie Risacher and Dyson Daniels each scored seven points. They both averaged over 12 points per game during the regular season.

The Hawks have one more opportunity to get out of the Play-In Tournament and into the NBA Playoffs. They’ll play again Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s game between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls.

Coming up for the Magic

The Magic travel to Boston for Game 1 of their first-round matchup against the Celtics. Orlando was 2-1 against the Celtics in the regular season. The home team won every game between the two.

Game 1 is on ABC Sunday afternoon with tip-off at 3:30.