Magic 105, Hawks 75 (Magic lead 3-0)

I’m starting to think the Atlanta Hawks have a phobia of passing the second round, and a phobia of even showing up in the second round.

For the second straight year, the Hawks are on the verge of being swept out of the playoffs in the conference semifinals after their 105-75 loss to the Orlando Magic. You may recall Atlanta not even showing up last year against Cleveland too. A 30-point loss has become less of a surprise, despite coming in Atlanta, due to the failure of playing anything close to good basketball. Meanwhile, the Magic are rockin’ and rollin’ their way through the playoffs to the tune of an undefeated record through seven postseason games. This win actually extends their overall winning streak to 13, dating back to the regular season.

Game 3 was simply a continuation of the first two games in Orlando. The Magic continued to shoot the ball with no fear and the Hawks continued to fail to play defense and execute on offense. Dwight Howard wasn’t even much of a factor in this game, despite the fact that he had 21 points and 16 rebounds.

Now, now, before you call me crazy and disregard everything I wrote on this game, you have to take my word for it. Yes, Dwight played a good game, but he also wasn’t the reason the Magic won regardless of his stat line. The points were fairly easy and the rebounds were even easier. The Magic just had some terrific ball movement and the Hawks had terrible shot selection. No matter how you look at it, Howard not having to dominate is a wonderful thing for the Magic.

Important Game 3 Statistics:

• Field Goal Percentage: Magic 50%, Hawks 35%
• Three-Point Shooters: Rashard Lewis 4-7, Mickael Pietrus 3-7
• Atlanta Stars: Joe Johnson 3-15 FG, 8 points; Josh Smith 7-17 FG, 15 points

Atlanta didn’t even make an attempt in this game. I thought they would at least come out with an immense amount of energy, and then the best team of the day would actually win. They never even led for a second in the game, and they have been outscored by 87 in the series. I said it yesterday when the Suns took a 3-0 lead over the Spurs, teams that are up 3-0 in a playoff series in NBA history are 88-0. So Atlanta, I hate to say it, but 0-3 = season over.

As for Orlando, maybe last year wasn’t a fluke.

-Shooter