With one well-timed swipe of Josh Smith's arm, the Hawks finally put away the Magic and also any lingering doubts about their ability to win under pressure.
Smith blocked Jason Richardson's 3-point attempt at the buzzer to preserve Atlanta's 84-81 victory over Orlando on Thursday at Philips Arena. The Hawks won the best-of-seven series 4-2 and advanced to to their third consecutive Eastern Conference semifinals.
The fifth-seeded Hawks will open the second round on Monday at No. 1 seed Chicago.
“We are going to celebrate tonight,” Hawks forward Marvin Williams said. “We will worry about Chicago in the morning.”
The Hawks may have to play the Bulls without their starting point guard, Kirk Hinrich. He left the game late with what the team said is a strained right hamstring and was to have an MRI on Friday.
The Hawks led Orlando 3-1 but, after a 101-76 loss at Orlando in Game 5, critics and nervous fans wondered if Atlanta could put away the Magic.
“It feels great,” Smith said. “Nobody gave us a [chance] to win this series. We played with a lot of passion and with nothing to lose and we got the job done.”
The Hawks eliminated the team that last year swept them in four games by an NBA-record of 101 points. The Hawks also won a series in less than the maximum games for the first time since they beat Indiana 3-1 in a best-of-five in 1987.
For the third time against Orlando the Hawks won a home game by making key plays in the final moments.
After Joe Johnson gave the Hawks an 82-77 lead with 1:57 to play Orlando's Jameer Nelson scored on consecutive layups to cut the advantage to 82-81 with 34.3 seconds left. In what might have been a fitting ending to the grinding series, the final plays featured a missed shot, a player stepping out of bounds and Smith's block.
Atlanta's Marvin Williams missed but Johnson tapped a rebound out to Jamal Crawford. The Magic fouled him with 8.2 seconds left and he made both free throws.
Orlando guard J.J. Redick then missed a 3-point attempt that was rebounded by Atlanta's Al Horford. But Horford stepped on the baseline, giving Orlando the ball and one last chance to tie.
Richardson caught the ball on the right wing and tried to get off a 3-point attempt. Smith blocked it, finally ending the game and sending fans into a frenzy.
“Honestly, we couldn't have done it without our fans,” Crawford said. “They've been good to us this whole series.”
The Hawks held on after they gave back most of a 71-59 lead they'd built with a 15-2 run that spanned the third and fourth quarter. Atlanta capped the run with three consecutive 3-pointers, one from Marvin Williams and two from Crawford.
Orlando made one last comeback attempt behind All-Star center Dwight Howard, an Atlanta native. He scored seven points during a 15-5 run that got Orlando within 76-74 with less than five minutes to play but the Magic never could gain a tie or lead.
"Our team fought hard for this whole series," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "From that standpoint, I'm disappointed I couldn't find a way to get them over the hump."
The Hawks led 48-38 early in the second quarter but, like in every game of the series at Philips Arena, the Magic rallied.
Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu finished off an 11-2 run with back-to-back jump shots to cut Atlanta's lead to 50-49. That's when the game got physical.
Turkoglu was called for a flagrant foul against Zaza Pachulia. A short time later Pachulia was assessed a flagrant for pounding Howard, who made both free throws to cut Atlanta's lead to 51-49.
Soon the Hawks went on their big run and then turned back the Magic.
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