{"id":400569,"date":"2011-04-25T22:42:19","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T22:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/"},"modified":"2011-04-25T22:42:19","modified_gmt":"2011-04-25T22:42:19","slug":"hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks out to finish off Magic in 5 (AP)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)\u2014On the brink of elimination, Magic players were still lamenting what has been plain to see for anyone watching Orlando\u2019s first-round playoff series against Atlanta.<\/p>\n

They can\u2019t put the ball in the basket.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the wrong time to be in a collective shooting slump,\u201d Magic guard J.J. Redick<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> said.<\/p>\n

Now facing a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven series, time has just about run out for the Magic to shake off their shooting woes. The series swings back to Orlando Tuesday for Game 5 with the Magic on the brink of suffering their first opening round playoff exit since 2007.<\/p>\n

History is not on Orlando\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Only eight teams in NBA history have won a best-of-seven series after falling into a 3-1 hole. The Magic have barely shown flashes of the team that averaged 99 points per game during the regular season and was in the top of the league in both field goal and 3-point shooting percentage.<\/p>\n

Aside from Dwight Howard<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> who is leading all playoff scorers averaging 32.2 points per game and shooting 66 percent from the field, Orlando is a shell of itself.<\/p>\n

The Magic are averaging just 90.3 points and three of their go-to outside threats\u2014Jameer Nelson<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> Hedo Turkoglu<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and Redick\u2014are all shooting less than 35 percent from the field, none more than 23 percent from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

As a team, the Orlando is shooting 40 percent from the field and just 20 percent from the 3-point line in the series. The Hawks are at 44 and 39 percent, respectively.<\/p>\n

It is almost a complete reverse from Orlando\u2019s Eastern Conference semifinals sweep of Atlanta last season when the Magic shot 53 percent overall (39 percent from three-point range), compared to 37 percent from the field and (29 percent from beyond the arc) for the Hawks.<\/p>\n

Coach Stan Van Gundy said his team got makable shots in Game 4, but that the mental side of things is what must be overcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn an individual basis as guys are struggling, the mentality becomes \u2018I gotta get myself going,\u201d\u2019 he said. \u201cAnd so guys are really hunting out shots and I think taking tougher ones because of that\u2026You\u2019ve gotta trust the teammates instead of the idea that we need some heroics.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s 88-85 loss, the Magic set a new NBA low for 3-point percentage by a team in a playoff game, connecting on just 2 for 23 attempts. Some of that is poor shot selection, but the Hawks defense has certainly played a role and fueled their confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing a great job on the 3-point line,\u201d Hawks forward Josh Smith<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep that up, just keep doing a good job at everything: Helping each other at defensive end, share ball at the offensive end. If we do that, think we\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atlanta also remains content to live with Howard\u2019s big numbers and have defended the perimeter just well enough to throw Orlando off. It\u2019s also had an unbelievable effort from reserve Jamal Crawford<\/a>(notes)<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

With his team-high 25-point effort in Game 4 Crawford became the first bench player to score 20 or more points in the first four games of a series since Kevin McHale did it for Boston in 1991.<\/p>\n

There were some trouble signs for Atlanta in Game 4, though.<\/p>\n

Aside from letting the Magic back the game after building a 16-point lead, Atlanta also at times reverted back into the isolation-based offensive sets that have gotten it into trouble at times. They also did a poor job down the stretch of managing possessions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why Hawks coach Larry Drew said ending the series as soon as possible is paramount.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important,\u201d Drew said. \u201cI\u2019m always talking about this team growing. To me, them positioning themselves like they are right now to go into Orlando and to finish this thing off, that\u2019s a huge step in our growth process\u2026Particularly after what they did to us last year\u2026it left a bad taste in our mouths.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wildcard in Game 5 may center on who wasn\u2019t there in the previous game for both teams.<\/p>\n

Magic starter Jason Richardson<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and Hawks\u2019 reserve Zaza Pachulia<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> will both return to action after serving one-game suspensions for their altercation near the end of Game 3.<\/p>\n

Richardson has also struggled to score in this series, but his presence at least increases the chances that somebody in a Magic uniform will have a good shooting night. Like Howard, he doesn\u2019t feel it\u2019s the best approach for the Magic to go into Tuesday thinking about a \u201cmust-win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of team we have and the type of guys we have. If we\u2019re uptight and worried about this or worried about that, we never play at our best. We\u2019re at our best when we\u2019re playing loose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pachulia\u2019s return could be more vital, as he has done one of the most serviceable jobs off the bench banging around underneath with Howard. He said now is not the time to admire what they\u2019ve accomplished so far, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have one more game to win,\u201d Pachulia said. \u201cBut it definitely will give us a great advantage to finish this series Tuesday. The last two years, we went to 7 game series it was very hard. We didn\u2019t have any off time to get any rest. Going to second round tired and banged up is not a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer Paul Newberry in Atlanta contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

See the original article here:
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ORLANDO, Fla. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nHawks out to finish off Magic in 5 (AP) - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Hawks out to finish off Magic in 5 (AP) - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"ORLANDO, Fla.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/17a6eb33rlando_magi.jpg-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Hawks out to finish off Magic in 5 (AP)\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-25T22:42:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/\"},\"wordCount\":945,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/17a6eb33rlando_magi.jpg-150x150.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/hawks-out-to-finish-off-magic-in-5-ap\/\",\"name\":\"Hawks out to finish off Magic in 5 (AP) - 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