Hawks stumble against Magic

"It doesn't feel good," guard Joe Johnson said. "We're trying to be one of the best teams in the East, and we had no answer for what they did against us in the second half. It's like, ‘Are you a contender or a pretender?'."

The Hawks had sought to test themselves and their 11-3 record against Orlando. It was the night to do it, playing before only their second sellout of the season and a national TV audience on TNT. The Hawks had a full complement of players, thanks to guard Mike Bibby playing on a sprained ankle, and had four days' rest, while Orlando was playing for the second time in as many nights.

But a feeble second-half effort did the Hawks in. They scored only 25 points after halftime, turning a 51-39 halftime lead into a discouraging loss, their second in a row after seven consecutive wins.

It was their first home loss in eight games at Philips Arena. The Hawks also surrendered first place in the Southeast. Orlando is 12-4, and the Hawks are 11-4. The Hawks will play tonight in Philadelphia.

The first half gave no indication of what lay ahead for the Hawks. They moved the ball well -- 12 assists on 22 first-half baskets -- and handcuffed the Magic on offense. The Magic's 39-point output was their lowest of the season for a first half.

However, the Hawks' lead slowly eroded over the third quarter. The Hawks made 6 of 20 field-goal attempts in the quarter, often settling for jump shots rather than taking the ball to the basket. Johnson said the team lacked urgency after halftime.

"It's definitely disappointing," forward Josh Smith said. "When you play as well as you do in the first half and then lay an egg, it's definitely disappointing."

It's the Hawks' lowest output in a game since March 1, 2008.

"The second half, we played totally different than we did in the first half," coach Mike Woodson said. "We shot it, we moved the ball, we defended well in the first half, and it's like we forgot how we got the lead. We played so differently in the second half."

Woodson tried an array of combinations on the floor, but nothing worked. The Hawks shot blanks. Forward Marvin Williams lofted a shot with his opposite hand. Typically sharp-shooting Jamal Crawford tossed an airball from 3-point range. Smith, who came into the game converting 54.0 percent of his shots, made 6 of 17.

"I know we can play with that team, and I think they know that as well," Woodson said. "We've just got to finish the game, and we didn't finish it tonight."

Over the final two quarters, the Hawks made 11 of 43 shots from the field.

"We just laid an egg," Johnson said. "It was not good at all."

For the game, the Hawks went to the line only seven times, three times on technical fouls. Magic center and Atlanta native Dwight Howard, the league's reigning defensive player of the year, impacted the game by blocking four shots and discouraging Hawks forays to the basket.

Said Woodson, "We can't predicate everything we do on making shots. I thought tonight we did that in the third and fourth quarter. We shut it down when we couldn't make shots. When you're missing jump shots, you've got to find a way to get to the free-throw line and we didn't do that tonight."

In what he called probably the biggest game of the season, Johnson said, "It's like we fell off altogether in the second half."

Howard led the Magic with 22 points and 17 rebounds. Former Hawk Anthony Johnson was a particularly incisive dagger off the bench, dropping 3 3-pointers and driving to the basket for 17 points in just 21 minutes.

The Hawks' leading scorer was Johnson with 22 points.