ORLANDO -- The Hawks looked to rebound from Monday’s loss. But the Magic stunned them in the first quarter with 50 points. Though the Hawks managed to recover, the hole proved too deep to climb out of and they fell 135-124 Wednesday night.
Here are five observations:
1. The Hawks (14-15) did not establish their defense, allowing the Magic to put up a franchise record for points in a quarter. Their previous high was 49, set on Feb. 20, 1995 at Milwaukee in the third quarter.
The Magic, who had won their last three games heading into the night, outworked the Hawks all quarter and got every shot they wanted. They went 9-of-12 on their shots in the paint, 1-of-3 from midrange and knocked down six of their 10 3-point attempts.
The Hawks struggled to contain the Magic and trailed by as many as 29.
Orlando went on to score a season-high 135 points as it picked up its fourth straight win.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “Urgency, energy, scrappy play, is something that you have to bring every single night to the floor. And you can’t wait until you’re busted in the mouth before you respond.
“We knew that this team, or we should have known that this team was going to play better. We’ve just beaten them twice. They’re playing better basketball, and they were going to come out with that type of urgency, and we just did not come out and match that in that urgency, that energy in the first quarter, you give up 50 points. Down 29, just not ready to go.”
2. The Magic played balanced basketball with eight of their rotational players scoring in double figures. Franz Wagner led the way with 24 points, while Bol Bol and Paolo Banchero chipped in 21 and 20 points respectively.
Despite their aggressiveness, the Magic gave up just 11 points off of their 14 turnovers, with their 3-point play giving them a solid cushion.
By the end of the night the Magic made 16 of their 36 3 pointers (44.4%).
“We just got to come out ready,” De’Andre Hunter said. “We talked about that pregame. Being ready, we knew they were gonna come out with a lot of energy. They’re on a three-game win streak, I think. So we just got to be better.”
3. That deficit did not last for long and the Hawks tried to claw their way back into the game. Thanks to a 20-point second quarter from Hunter, the Hawks pulled within 14 by the end of the first half.
Hunter was hot from distance as he knocked down four of his five 3-point attempts in the frame.
He ended the night with 25 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor and 4-of-9 shooting from 3. He also had five rebounds and three assists.
The Hawks needed that burst from Hunter, who made his return from injury on Sunday. He gave them a lift on Monday, when they missed four of their five starters in action, with 19 points.
“Dre, they just found a hot hand and he knew that we needed to be aggressive and, he was able to knock down some shots and get us back into the game,” McMillan said.
4. The Hawks returned from halftime with even more intensity and pulled the game within single digits several times throughout the night. The Hawks held the Magic to 3-of-11 shooting from distance in the second and third, while outscoring them 72-55 in that span.
The Hawks moved the ball with guard Trae Young dishing out a season-high 16 assists to go along with his 19 points. The team ended the night with 30 assists.
Six different players scored in double figures as the Hawks tried to mount their comeback.
“We just can’t come out lackadaisical,” Onyeka Okongwu said. “You know, giving up 50 points in one quarter is kind of ridiculous. But it’s the NBA. We’re all here for a reason, everybody can play. We just got to be ready from the start.”
5. The Hawks made several runs throughout the night to pull the game within single digits. But they seemed out of sorts and disconnected. They ended up turning the ball over 13 times and the Magic made sure they paid for every one of them, with 19 points.
When the turnovers didn’t hurt the Hawks, rebounding did. The Magic scored another 19 points off 14 offensive rebounds.
Stat to know
22 -- De’Andre Hunter (22 points) posted the highest-scoring half (previously 20 in the second half vs. Toronto on Nov. 23, 2019) and quarter (20 points, previously he’d scored 16 twice) of his career.
Quotable
“We gotta be playing hard all 48 minutes. I’m looking at the stat sheet, we played good in every other quarter, but the first. You know, put ourselves in a big hole and just couldn’t get out of it.” -- Onyeka Okongwu on what the loss taught them.
Up next
The Hawks cap off the road trip Friday night with a stop in Charlotte to face the Hornets.
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